Emirates has become the latest airline to sign up to easyJet’s Worldwide connections service.
It will initially allow passengers to travel seamlessly through Gatwick and onwards to Emirates hub Dubai.
However, the airline is planning to add more Worldwide destinations once the arrangement goes live in the coming months.
Singapore Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and latterly Air Transat have all joined the programme since September.
Other partners include Norwegian, Thomas Cook Airlines and Loganair. EasyJet has pledged to extend the programme to other easyJet hubs in Europe and seek more more airline partners.
Launched last September, Worldwide by EasyJet allows passengers to book onward connections with member airlines through the easyJet website.
It has established partnerships to offer 5,000 outbound destinations. The minimum connection time is two hours 30 minutes.
Johan Lundgren, easyJet chief executive, said the Emirates was a natural fit with both airlines operating out of Gatwick.
“We are confident [Emirates’] addition to Worldwide will be very popular with our customers who are looking for an easy and seamless way to connect between Europe, the Middle East and beyond,” said Lundgren.
“We have been delighted with the appetite of partner airlines to expand Worldwide across our network and continue to broaden our focus to offer this unique connecting service at more of our biggest airports. Tens of millions of connecting passengers travel each year with journeys which begin or end in Europe.
“We expect to announce more partners in the coming months as Worldwide continues to grow.”
Thierry Antinori, Emirates’ executive vice-president and chief commercial officer, added: “The Emirates proposition has always been about providing customers with a better flying experience both in the air and on the ground. We offer our customers an extensive choice of flight options not only through our own global network, but also through our partner airlines.
“We are delighted to join easyJet’s Worldwide programme, which enables us to jointly offer travellers a seamless connection experience when they fly on Emirates and easyJet combined itineraries via London Gatwick, one of our main UK gateways.
“We are confident that our customers will welcome this additional convenience, and we look forward to expanding our participation in the Worldwide by easyJet programme at other European gateways.”