Etihad Partners with easyJet, Its First Transformational NDC Platform

Abu Dhabi: Etihad Airways (Etihad), the national airline of the UAE, has become the most recent airline to partner with easyJet, one of the world’s largest airlines. This new partnership means customers can purchase tickets through the easyJet worldwide website connecting the two airlines’ networks and opening new and exciting possibilities for travel between Europe, Africa, the Azores and the UAE. The collaboration comes into effect immediately.

The partnership follows easyJet’s accelerated and successful roll-out programme with world-leading flight comparison search engine, Dohop, which powers the easyJet worldwide website connecting its European network with long-haul flights. For Etihad, this has been achieved using the NDC (New Distribution Capability) platform providing the technical capability for new partnerships previously not possible. The partnership with easyJet and Dohop is the UAE national airline’s first use of this technology and Etihad plans to add more airlines and travel partners to their NDC portfolio in 2020.

Ali Saleh, Etihad Airways Vice President Alliances and Partnerships, said: “This new collaboration between two great brands is a logical leap forward for both our companies. easyJet is a perfect launch partner for us in Europe, allowing us to reliably increase the breadth of our continental reach to and from Abu Dhabi, as we enhance ways of connecting directly with more airlines and travel partners around the world.

“The ability to provide end-to-end booking capabilities through our NDC platform will provide customers with ‘one stop’ solutions for seamless travel with partners, whether legacy or low-cost, through Etihad’s global gateways.”

Rachel Smith, easyJet’s Head of Commercial Partnerships said: “We’re excited to announce our partnership with Etihad Airways, which opens up Abu Dhabi as a destination to our passengers and more of Europe to Etihad. Through smart self-connections and strategic partnerships, we continue to extend the reach of the worldwide by easyJet network offering more value and more routes to more customers.”

Customers will for the first time be able to purchase tickets on the easyJet website from 68 cities on the airline’s network in Europe to Abu Dhabi, connecting on to Etihad Airways flights from 10 European gateways in Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Rome, Geneva, Madrid, Manchester, Milan Malpensa, and Zurich. Both airlines plan to expand the partnership to include more destinations in the future.