Gulf Air and Malaysia Airlines are entering a code-sharing agreement opening up routes and services to each other in their respective networks effective September 18, this year.

The agreement, inked at a signing ceremony, in Subang, allows Malaysia Airlines to market seats under its code on the Gulf Air operated flights between Kuala Lumpur bound for Bahrain and Oman.

"Code-sharing enables travellers to enjoy a seamless product, as a single airline supervises the passenger's entire journey," says Gulf Air President and Chief Executive James Hogan.

"Such an arrangement offers significant economic and consumer benefits giving passengers price and service options."

During the summer, Gulf Air flies six flights a week to Kuala Lumpur. Later this year Gulf Air and Malaysian Airlines will expand the commercial relationship further with Gulf Air adding its code on parts of Malaysian Airlines domestic and international network.

The code share comes shortly after Gulf Air and a high-level delegation from Malaysian Tourism Promotion Board (MTPB) agreed to set up a task force to study possibilities of joint co-operation to promote the upcoming 50 years of Malaysia's nationhood in 2007.

At the meeting in May in Bahrain, the two sides had also discussed possibilities of code-sharing between the two carriers.

"We are very excited to begin this commercial relationship with Gulf Air. This is in line with our strategy of shifting from point-to-point network to hub and spoke connecting network," says Malaysia Airlines Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Idris Jala.

"Malaysia is one of the popular destinations for Arabs as it has been witnessing a steady increase in tourism over the years from the GCC countries and the country is expecting a significant jump in tourism in 2007.

"This agreement is yet another manifestation of the 'winning coalitions' thrust of our business turnaround plan. We will leverage on such arrangements to build our of hub-and-spoke approach to reduce costs and concurrently improve load factors and yields."

According to Malaysian officials, around 147,646 Gulf tourist visited Malaysia last year up from 123,000 in 2004.

Gulf Air has been flying to Kuala Lumpur for many years and its Holiday Division, Gulf Air Holidays, has been offering travellers fantastic, value-for-money holiday packages.

Gulf Air already has code-sharing agreements with American Airlines, Thai Airways, BMI, Cyprus Airways, Egyptair, Philippine Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, Indian Airlines, Jet Airways, KLM, Olympic Airlines, Oman Air, Qantas Airways, Royal Jordanian, Saudi Arabian Airlines and Middle East Airlines.

Gulf Air has also been nominated this year for a World Travel Award as Middle East's Leading Airline.