KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 18): Malaysia Airlines and Singapore Airlines (SIA) will reactivate their codeshare agreement between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur and expand it to 15 domestic destinations in Malaysia, seven cities in Europe, and two cities in South Africa.
This follows the announcement that Malaysia and Singapore will introduce a Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) arrangement from Nov 29, allowing customers to travel seamlessly for their business or leisure travel.
The significant expansion of codeshare arrangements within Malaysia and beyond the two countries comes amid the gradual reopening of international borders and increasing demand for air travel, the airlines said in a joint statement on Thursday.
From Nov 29, customers of SIA will be able to take advantage of Malaysia Airlines flights to and from Kuala Lumpur as the airline adds 15 new codeshare destinations in Malaysia. The destinations are Alor Setar, Bintulu, Johor Bahru, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Terengganu, Kuantan, Kuching, Labuan, Langkawi, Miri, Penang, Sandakan, Sibu and Tawau.
Meanwhile, from Jan 1 next year, Malaysia Airlines customers will be able to book flights from Singapore to seven European cities such as Barcelona, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Moscow, Munich, Rome and Zurich, as well as Cape Town and Johannesburg in South Africa on SIA.
The carriers noted these codeshare agreements will gradually be expanded to include other points on the Singapore Airlines or Malaysia Airlines network.
This significant expansion of codeshare agreements is the first phase of a wide-ranging commercial agreement signed by Malaysia Airlines and SIA in 2019, the statement read.
Under the agreement, the airlines plan to enter into a joint commercial arrangement between Malaysia and Singapore. Subject to regulatory approvals, the codeshare flights will be gradually made available for sale through the airlines' respective booking channels.
This would allow the partners to coordinate flight schedules, offer joint fare products, align corporate programmes and explore linkages between the KrisFlyer and Enrich frequent flyer programmes.
Both airlines will also explore joint tourism marketing initiatives and multi-stop routes that would allow customers to travel to other destinations in Malaysia via Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
“Malaysia Airlines looks forward to the long-awaited Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, the first VTL for Malaysia. This is indeed very timely considering the upcoming festive season and year-end holidays where residents of both countries have traditionally spent their time either in Singapore or Malaysia.
“We look forward to more VTLs for Malaysia so we can safely revive travel globally. Our codeshare expansion with SIA to Europe and South Africa couldn’t happen at a better time and we are especially grateful for the synergy and warm relationship between the two airlines that has made this partnership possible,” said Malaysia Airlines Group Chief Executive Officer Izham Ismail.
SIA executive officer Goh Choon Phong, also said this partnership will help to boost the tourism industries in both countries, as well as the wider Southeast Asia region.
“The partnership is testament to the spirit of collaboration that underpins the strong and long-standing relationship between Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines,” he added.