Miroslav Dvorák

Czech Airlines will operate its first flight to the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi on September 21. From there, the carrier will operate four weekly flights to Abu Dhabi from its Prague hub on an Airbus A319.

Conversely, Etihad customers can fly to Prague and other central and eastern European destinations on Czech Airlines flights. What’s more, Etihad and Czech Airlines officials say, the arrival and departure times at Abu Dhabi enable passengers to reach their final destination in less than three hours.

It’s just another way customers will benefit from the code-share agreement, Czech Airlines President Miroslav Dvorák asserts. “Thanks to the perfect harmonization of departure and arrival times at Abu Dhabi, destinations in the Middle East, Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Asia and Australia have never been as accessible from Prague as they are now,” he said in a statement.

To Philippe Moreels, Czech Airlines’ vice president of economics, selecting Etihad as a partner was an easy decision. “Czech Airlines is an important player on the European market — but on a global scale, it is difficult to compete without strong partners,” he said in a statement. “We are extremely satisfied that we have found a genuinely strong and respected partner in Etihad Airways. I believe that the [partnership]… is merely the first step toward deeper and more intensive cooperation in the future.”

Etihad Airways CCO Peter Baumgartner concurs, but also points to the expansion implications of the agreement. “This new strategic relationship, which includes but is not limited to just a codeshare agreement, illustrates Etihad's growing ambitions in the Central and Eastern Europe region,” he said in a statement.