Air Serbia and Etihad Airways have announced the restoration of a codeshare partnership, two months after the latter ended its equity involvement in the Belgrade-based carrier.
Their previous codeshare relationship was terminated almost two years ago, at which point Etihad was already winding down its financial interest in Air Serbia – a process that ended in November last year, when it sold its remaining stake in the carrier to the Serbian government.
Etihad says that commencing 3 February, its passengers can connect to 12 southeast Europe destinations via Air Serbia flights on a single ticket, while latter’s customers can connect on to Abu Dhabi flights on the same basis.
Given, however, that neither carrier serves the other’s hub, “seamless” connections will happen in other destinations where the two operators’ networks overlap; namely Athens, Milan, Rome and Vienna.
Cirium schedules data indicates Etihad last served Belgrade in October 2020, while Air Serbia last served Abu Dhabi in October 2017.
Etihad’s divestment of its remaining Air Serbia stake last year marked the last step in the unwinding of its unsuccessful equity alliance strategy, which saw it seek a competitive edge through investments in carriers including Air Berlin, Air Seychelles, Alitalia, Darwin Airline, Jet Airways and Virgin Australia.
