Qatar Airways has announced a new code-share agreement with Comair, a franchise of British Airways, that will add three new African destinations to its route map, and provide additional flight options to travellers in Cape Town and Durban.

Comair, which this year celebrates its 70th year of operations, is based in South Africa and is an affiliate member of the oneworld alliance through its Licence Agreement with British Airways.

Effective February 23, Qatar Airways will place its code on flights that have British Airways livery, operated by its franchise Comair, from Johannesburg to Cape Town, Durban, Harare, Victoria Falls, and Port Elizabeth. Qatar Airways will also place its code on flights operated by Comair from Cape Town to Durban and Port Elizabeth.

Comair has hub operations in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, South Africa, easily connecting on to Qatar Airways-operated flights to Doha and beyond to more than 150 destinations.

Qatar Airways group chief executive, Akbar Al Baker, said: “Africa is on the move, and travellers deserve better itineraries for their travel needs. Expanding our network with Comair was a natural progression of our investment in Africa and our desire to make it easier to visit this exciting part of the world, and for the families, businesses and organisations based here to connect globally. With this agreement, more than 150 destinations in the Qatar Airways network now connect easily to these business, adventure travel and cultural capitals.”

Erik Venter, Comair’s chief executive officer, said: “We are delighted to be adding Qatar Airways to our growing list of strategic airline partnerships and we are excited about exploring additional opportunities to expand the relationship. This, in addition to our acquisition of a new Boeing 737-800, is testament to our confidence in the regional leisure and business tourism sector. We look forward to welcoming Qatar Airways’ customers on board our flights.”

This partnership complements the recent expansion of Qatar Airways operations into South Africa. In December, Qatar Airways started four-times-weekly service to Durban and increased service from 10 weekly flights to Johannesburg to 14. Qatar Airways offers non-stop flights to Doha, where travellers connect easily and comfortably to destinations across six continents from the airline’s hub at Hamad International Airport. – TradeArabia News Service