From left: Ahmed Sultan, nasair's Director of Bilateral Agreement and Strategic Alliances; Marco Ostini, Chief Commercial Officer of nasair; Richard Nuttall, Bahrain Air CEO; and Raju Pillai, Director of Commercial Operations, Bahrain Air, during the signing of agreement. BAHRAIN Air, the private national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, and nasair, the national carrier of Saudi Arabia, signed a codeshare agreement on flights from Dammam at a ceremony held Sunday at the M?venpick Hotel in Manama. The first phase will be implemented with the sectors from Dammam to Khartoum and Dammam to Beirut between the two carriers. Under the agreement, the travelers will have a wider spectrum of options in using both carriers route network to their convenience in the near future. Passengers could fly on either carrier network soon. nasair will place its ‘XY' code on Bahrain Air ‘BN' flights currently operating from Dammam to Beirut and Khartoum. Subject to regulatory approvals, nasair and Bahrain Air will display their respective codes on the above routes from winter schedule. Richard Nuttall, Bahrain Air CEO, said “we are optimistic that this tie up will be a win-win for both our carriers. We see this as the start of a more extensive collaboration that will bring benefits to customers of both carriers. Passenger numbers will grow with the wide offering of network and competitive pricing.” Captain François Bouteiller, nasair CEO, added: “This additional code share agreement marks another mile stone in the development of nasair network and particularly out of Dammam. Both our customers will benefit from increase flights at competitive fares.” “We are excited to launch this codeshare relationship with Bahrain Air to give our customers more options when traveling with nasair,” said Ahmed Sultan, nasair's Director of Bilateral Agreement and Strategic Alliances. “This agreement will provide our customers with a variety of options and seamless access when traveling throughout our combined networks.” The ceremony was attended by Bahrain Air CEO Richard Nuttall; Marco Ostini, Chief Commercial Officer of nasair; Director of Commercial Operations Bahrain Air Raju Pillai; Ahmed Sultan, Director of Bilateral Agreement & Strategic Alliances nasair; Waleed AlShaikh, Director of Marketing & Communication NAS Holding; and Fazal Muhammad, nasair sales director and senior management. Bahrain Air currently operates to 20 destinations throughout the GCC, Levant, Indian Subcontinent and African regions. Additionally, nasair operates to 27 destinations within Saudi Arabia and mainly in MENA region. – SG
