Alaska Airlines and Emirates Sign Codeshare Deal

Emirates and Alaska Airlines have announced today a new codeshare agreement which will see it market more than 300 daily Alaska Airlines flights, pending US government approval.

According to a mailed statement, the agreement will allow customers to purchase connecting flights on both carriers under a single reservation system with reciprocal lounge access and priority services for elite fliers.

The Dubai-based carrier offer a double daily service to Seattle. The codeshare agreement “gives passengers easy connections to 49 cities including Honolulu, Denver, Las Vegas,Portland, Phoenix, Pullman, Sacramento, Spokane, Anchorage, Juneau, and Fairbanks as well as Canadian destinations such as Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Victoria” Emirates stated in the press release.

Brad Tilden, chief executive and president of Alaska Airlines, highlighted that the codeshare will provide Alaska Airlines access to Emirates’ global network, and emphasized that “as Seattle’s hometown airline, our partnership already connects 2,500 customers a week to Emirates, and we expect that to increase as we streamline the travel experience for customers traveling between Alaska and Emirates.”

Emirates first launched its service to Seattle in March 2012, and said it has since flown more than 600,000 passengers on the route. On July 7, the airline announced its second daily service from Dubai to Seattle, operated with a Boeing 777-200LR, taking the current number of weekly seats to Seattle to 4,340.

The codeshare agreement comes even as Emirates Airline, Qatar Airways and Etihad are engaged in a clash with Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and United over alleged subsidies. The American carriers accuse their Gulf counterparts to have breached open skies treaties by receiving subsidies worth 42 billion dollars since 2004, propping up unfair competition.