American Air anticipates tie-ups with Gulf heavyweights Emirates, Etihad and Qatar

While some airlines have a cautious to negative stance towards Middle East network carriers, American Airlines’ outgoing CEO Tom Horton expects American can have a partnership with all…Big Three: Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways.

American has a limited relationship with Etihad that covers US-Abu Dhabi services, both direct and via some common European ports, such as Brussels and Frankfurt …Frequent flyer points can only be earned on codeshare services. “We think that can co-exist with our partnership with Qatar,” Horton told the APEX editor’s blog during the recent IATA AGM in Cape Town.