Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines have signed a wide-ranging commercial agreement, which will include revenue sharing and expanded codeshares, building on a memorandum of understanding which was signed in June.
The two carriers state that flights between Singapore and Malaysia will operate under a joint business arrangement which spans co-ordination of flight schedules, joint fares, alignment of corporate programmes, and exploration of a tie-up between the airlines' frequent-flyer programmes.
This arrangement does not just cover the mainline carriers but also SIA's regional subsidiary SilkAir and low-cost unit Scoot as well as Malaysia Airlines' sister carrier Firefly.
A codeshare deal will be expanded to cover additional destinations. The two airlines already codeshare on flights from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching and Penang.
SIA and SilkAir plan to codeshare on domestic services operated by Malaysia Airlines to 16 destinations.
In turn, the Malaysian carrier will gradually codeshare on flights out of Singapore to Malaysia, Europe, South Africa and other destinations flown by SIA. This is subject to regulatory approvals.
"It represents a significant expansion of the existing codeshare agreement and will provide [Malaysia Airlines] with more opportunities to expand connectivity to and from Malaysia," says SIA.
The two airlines have also agreed to work on joint marketing activities to boost long-haul tourism into Malaysia and Singapore, as well as the potential development of airpasses.
When the memorandum of understanding was first signed in June, the carriers indicated that other potential areas of collaboration could include cargo and MRO services.
"We are honoured to collaborate alongside SIA in providing our customers a more competitive product between Malaysia and Singapore and the opportunity to travel to more global destinations," states Malaysia Airlines' chief executive Izham Ismail.
"This is in line with Malaysia Airlines’ long-term business plan goal of engaging in deep partnerships to extend our reach and presence globally. This partnership is more than a conventional partnership, and we believe in the mutual benefits for both airline groups and countries."
