British Airways has signed a codeshare agreement with Royal Air Maroc that will offer passengers access to routes across Morocco.
Codeshare flights take off on 20 February, with Royal Air Maroc due to join the Oneworld alliance from 1 April.
In addition to Royal Air Maroc’s hub in Casablanca, which is not currently served by BA, passengers will have access to flights to destinations such as Abidjan in the Ivory Coast, Freetown in Sierra Leone and Agadir in Morocco.
Passengers will be able to earn loyalty points when flying on either carrier, with BA Executive Club members able to earn Avios on BA bookings for eligible codeshare flights. In addition, BA customers will have access to Royal Air Maroc’s airport lounges when flying in premium cabins and vice versa.
Chris Fordyce, BA’s head of alliances, commented: “We are delighted to be partnering with Morocco’s flagship airline, Royal Air Maroc, to create our first African codeshare agreement. Not only will this codeshare agreement give our customers the choice of more flights to Africa’s biggest tourist destination, Morocco, it will connect our extensive global network to new destinations in Africa.”
Hamid Addou, CEO of Royal Air Maroc, added: “This new codeshare with a prestigious company… confirms Royal Air Maroc’s major role as a key player connecting Africa to the rest of the world. We are very pleased with this cooperation, which will foster our traffic development and ease the access to both our companies’ networks on both ends. Thanks to this code-sharing agreement, Royal Air Maroc offers its passengers access to additional destinations across Great Britain and a better customer journey, through optimised connections and end-to-end check-in operations, with international assistance at airports served by the two companies.”
Meanwhile, BA is set to challenge Virgin Atlantic’s recent announcement that it will re-launch flights to Cape Town by adding two extra services a week to its own schedule from Gatwick starting 10 January 2021 for the first three months of the year.
The increased frequency means BA will offer 19 flights a week to Cape Town from London (as opposed to Virgin’s daily seasonal service, which launches on 25 October 2020).
ba.com