Kenya Airways-Etihad alliance will create a powerful force in Eastern Africa, challenging Ethiopian

Africa's airline industry may not be large, but there is no shortage of activity as growing interest in the region's natural resources piques global attention.

Now Etihad Airways, which has consistently pursued an active alliance strategy, has concluded a reciprocal code share agreement with Kenya Airways, giving access to each others' networks and paving the way for greater collaboration and cost savings.

Kenya Airways will launch a new three-times weekly Nairobi-Abu Dhabi service from about Jul-2013 to improve connections in support of Etihad's current daily service. The alliance is the latest from Etihad to cut across marketing alliance boundaries: Kenya Airways is a member of SkyTeam, complete with a 27% equity investment from KLM. Etihad and SkyTeam leaders, Air France-KLM concluded a "strategic alliance" in Oct-2012.