Etihad partners with JetBlue for US flights

Etihad Airways will partner with JetBlue on US domestic and selected international flights, as the Gulf airline continues to build out its own bespoke network and create what some observers already consider a fourth alliance alongside the established families of oneworld, Star Alliance and SkyTeam.

One of the prizes for Etihad will be JetBlue's new Mint transcontinental service, which will debut mid-June between New York,  Los Angeles and San Francisco (and see JetBlue enter a transcontinental turf war already being hard-fought by United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta).

The Mint premium cabin will feature 16 lie-flat beds...

... four of which will be sold as 'private suites' with higher walls to give travellers an extra degree of privacy.

The codeshare agreement between Etihad and JetBlue, which is subject to government approval, will see Etihad Airways place its EY code on JetBlue-operated flights to streamline connections for passengers between the two airlines at New York’s JFK airport and Washington’s Dulles International.

In the first stage of the partnership, Etihad Airways will codeshare on 40 JetBlue routes within the US, with further JetBlue codeshares to follow when Etihad Airways commences daily flights to Los Angeles from June 2014.

In addition, Etihad Airways plans to codeshare on JetBlue's non-USA routes between JFK and Bogota, Colombia; Montego Bay, Jamaica; and Punta Cana, Santiago and Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic.

Also read: Photo gallery - new Etihad Regional aircraft, cabin interiors and crew

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David Flynn

David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.