airBaltic and Emirates have entered a codeshare agreement, which should open up markets to both carriers. The Baltic carrier will be able to tap on Emirates’ vast long-haul network, while the Dubai-based airline will get new opportunities in Northern Europe. airBaltic and Emirates codeshare opens up new markets.
The agreement was announced on November 25 in a press release, but will almost certainly have been signed last week during Dubai Airshow. Both airBaltic CEO Martin Gauss and Emirates’ Chief Commercial Officer Adnan Kazim were present at the event.
airBaltic has served the United Arab Emirates since 2017 when it launched operations to Abu Dhabi thanks to the range of the Bombardier CS300. Only last September, the carrier changed its network by offering four weekly flights from Riga (Latvia) to Dubai. This allows airBaltic to connect more easily to the Emirates network. “The new partnership will enable our passengers to reach new exciting destinations in Asia, Australia, and beyond”, Gauss said in a media statement.
A spokesperson for airBaltic adds that the codeshare agreement with Emirates “currently includes flights from Riga to Dubai, Tallinn (Estland), Vilnius (Lithuania), and Helsinki (Finland). Due to the highly competitive nature of the European aviation market, airBaltic cannot reveal the expected impact from this agreement.” The carrier hasn’t planned additional services from Dubai to Tallinn and Vilnius.
For Emirates, Northern Europe is a kind of new territory. The airline currently operates in Oslo (Norway), Copenhagen (Denmark), and Stockholm (Sweden), but not to Finland, where airBaltic flies to three destinations. St. Petersburg in Russia is served by Emirates but also by airBaltic. Codesharing flights opens up options for travelers to connect through airBaltic to Emirates from Dubai but alternatively also from destinations within Europe that both airlines serve. The agreement “will also open up Emirates’ exciting network of global destinations to more travelers from the Baltics”, said Kazim.
