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Qatar Airways, China Southern Launch Codeshare

A Qatar Airways Airbus A380. (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)

Qatar Airways has announced that the first stage of a codeshare cooperation with China Southern Airlines has begun with the Chinese carrier placing its code on Qatar Airways flights between Guangzhou and Doha. Flights started on Dec. 27 and are currently for sale.

The codeshare partnership brings more travel opportunities for Qatar Airways’ customers, who can now enjoy seamless connectivity to and from Guangzhou via Hamad International Airport. The agreement will further support commercial cooperation between the two airlines as Qatar Airways owns a 5% stake in China Southern Airlines.

The codeshare flights, building upon the existing cooperation between Qatar Airways and China Southern Airlines, will enable the Chinese airline’s passengers to book travel on Qatar Airways’ flights between Guangzhou and Doha and onwards to more than 60 destinations in Africa, Europe and the Middle East.

Furthermore, both airlines continue to operate with extra safety and healthy procedures to provide greater reassurance to their customers in the current challenging environment, with their next stage of the codeshare agreement seeing the Chinese carrier placing its code on Qatar Airways flights between Beijing and Doha once the current restrictions for flights into and out of China are lifted.

“We are delighted to begin codeshare cooperation with China Southern Airlines, providing our passengers seamless connectivity via the Best Airport in the Middle East to more than 60 destinations across Africa, Europe and the Middle East,” said Qatar Airways Chief Commercial Officer Thierry Antinori.

“Since Qatar Airways Group’s investment in China Southern Airlines in 2018, our two airlines have worked closely to develop opportunities to enhance the customer experience for our millions of passengers travelling via the Best Airport in the Middle East, Hamad International Airport. The beginning of codeshare flights is the natural first step and we look forward to further deepening our close relationship with China Southern Airlines in the future,” Ahtinori continued.

“We have great expectations for the partnership between Qatar Airways and China Southern Airlines. During 2020, our global airline industry has faced unprecedented challenges and we look forward to an early recovery. We believe that bilateral cooperation will be an important element in the process of industry recovery and greatly promote air connectivity among countries and regions,” said China Southern Airlines SVP Corporate and International Relations Wu Guoxiang.

“Our collaboration with Qatar Airways is just one of these powerful combinations. Qatar Airways is a Five-Star Airline by SKYTRAX, with award-winning inflight service and innovative products and China Southern is committed to developing world-class service brands that combine ‘affinity and refinement’ to deliver an extraordinary travel experience to all passengers,” Wu continued

Qatar Airways continues to rebuild its network, which currently stands at over 100 destinations. The airline plans to increase that to 129 stops by the end of March 2021.

Victor Shalton

Author

  • Victor Shalton

    Born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya, Victor’s love for aviation goes way back to when he was 11-years-old. Living close to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, he developed a love for planes and he even recalls aspiring to be a future airline executive for Kenya Airways. He also has a passion in the arts and loves writing and had his own aviation blog prior to joining AirlineGeeks. He is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in business administration at DeKUT and aspiring to make a career in a more aviation-related course.

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