Etihad Airways yesterday signed a codeshare deal with the South African budget carrier kulula.com, which is expected to boost tourism between the two countries.
The Abu Dhabi carrier will place its EY code on kulula.com’s flights between Johannesburg and the coastal cities of Cape Town, Durban, George and East London.
The partnership will allow passengers through-check-in and baggage transfer to their final destination.
The sale of tickets started yesterday for travel from October 30.
“Etihad wants to tap into the high-yield seasonal tourism traffic here, particularly because there are so few options for customers in niche markets such as this,” said Saj Ahmad, an analyst at StrategicAero Research in London.
The deal fits in with Etihad’s strategy of aligning itself with smaller carriers such as Air Serbia, Kenya Airways, Royal Air Maroc and equity partner Air Seychelles.
“[But] any success with kulula could come at the expense of South African Airways, which has a partnership with Etihad as well,” said Mr Ahmad.
Kulula shares the low-cost aviation market in South Africa with Mango Airlines, a subsidiary of South African Airways. Mango Airlines was expected to join the Star Alliance network in the third quarter.
The new codeshare agreement with kulula “demonstrates Etihad Airways’ growing ambitions to strengthen our operations across Africa”, said Peter Baumgartner, Etihad’s chief executive.
Etihad currently serves 10 cities in Africa, including Johannesburg, Nairobi, Lagos, Cairo and Mahé in the Seychelles.
“[We] are excited about exploring additional opportunities to expand on the relationship,” said Erik Venter, the chief executive of kulula’s parent company, Comair.
Comair, which shares a British Airways flight code, reported a revenue growth of 1 per cent and a profit decline of 12 per cent year-on-year to 193 million rand (Dh52.2m) for the financial year to June 30 owing to a weak rand. In the previous financial year, its profit declined by 17 per cent year-on-year to 218m rand.
The Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority opened its 11th overseas office in Johannesburg last year. Since then guest arrivals from South Africa have risen. Last year, 26,147 visitors came to the UAE, an increase of 42 per cent from 2014.
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- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
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- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
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Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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