Star Alliance members Singapore Airlines and Ethiopian Airlines will expand their codeshare agreement as of 1 June 2017, offering customers travelling between Asia and Africa seamless connectivity options.

Ethiopian Airlines’ daily non-stop services to Singapore from Addis Ababa, due to be launched in June 2017, will be covered by the expanded codeshare agreement.

Under the expanded agreement, Singapore Airlines customers will enjoy access to Ethiopian Airlines’ vast intra-African network including countries like Botswana, Burkina Faso, Chad, Cote D’Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria, Mozambique, The Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. In turn, Ethiopian Airlines customers will be able to access multiple destinations in Australia, China, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Thailand and Vietnam across Singapore Airlines’ wide network.

Singapore Airlines Senior Vice President Marketing Planning, Mr Tan Kai Ping, said, “We are delighted with our expanded codeshare operations with Ethiopian Airlines. This significant expansion of our important partnership is in line with our ongoing effort to continuously expand our network reach and to offer customers more travel options and convenience when travelling between Africa, Asia and Southwest Pacific.”

A/VP Strategic and Alliances Ethiopian Airlines, Mr Girma Shiferaw, remarked: “I wish to thank Singapore Airlines for the successful completion of this vital agreement. The two airlines will synergize their respective networks in Asia and Africa to offer customers the best connectivity options with one ticket and one single check-in at the first boarding airport. It will also play a critical role in enhancing investment, trade and tourism ties between a rising Africa, and a highly developed, innovative, and business-friendly Singapore.”

The airlines first began codesharing on each other’s flights to and from Dubai in 2011.

The expanded codeshare flights are subject to regulatory approvals and will be progressively made available for sale across various sales channels.

Singapore Airlines operates a modern passenger aircraft fleet of more than 100 aircraft. Together with wholly owned passenger airline subsidiaries SilkAir, Scoot and Tigerair, the SIA Group’s combined network covers more than 130 destinations around the world.

Ethiopian Airlines operates the youngest fleet on the African continent with an average aircraft age of less than five years, serving more than 90 international destinations across five continents with over 240 daily departures.