The deal came into effect this month with flights operated by both Saudi Arabia’s national carrier and Kenya Airways codeshared between Jeddah and Jeddah.
“Flights are now open for sale, and for travel effective Feb. 21,” Syed Shahabuddin, Jeddah-based country sales manager for Saudi Arabia, said.
Kenya Airways currently operates from Nairobi to Jeddah twice a week (Wednesdays and Sundays) complementing Saudia’s two flights (Tuesdays and Saturdays).
This code-share agreement is the first step toward establishing a strong long-term relationship with Saudi Arabian Airlines that is set to formally join the SkyTeam Alliance in May 2012, he said.
Kenya Airways restarted its Jeddah-Nairobi operations from Oct. 18, 2011 after a gap of about nine years.
“We have plans to increase our frequencies between the two cities to three by July and to four by October,” he said, adding that the Kenyan national carrier operates to 55 destinations mostly in Africa, and also to the Middle East, Asia and Europe.
Its Middle East operations are from Nairobi to Dubai and Muscat, aside from Jeddah.
“We also have plans to start operations to Beirut very soon,” Shahabuddin said.
The airline operates Boeing 737-800 between Jeddah and Nairobi, with a configuration of 16 business class and 129 economy class.
Saudia is operating Airbus 320 on the Jeddah-Nairobi route.
