New Delhi, July 23 -- Air India and Saudi Arabia's Saudia have inked a preliminary pact to expand their strategic cooperation. Both airlines have a codeshare agreement.

In a release on Thursday, Air India said it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that sets out a phased approach to developing the partnership.

"Areas of cooperation include expanding the existing codeshare agreement, improving connectivity across both airlines' networks, exploring terminal co-location and exploring further operational and commercial opportunities, including cooperation between their loyalty programmes.

"The two parties will also assess opportunities to extend the partnership in the future to other airlines within their respective groups, incl...