Asiana Airlines Inc., South Korea’s No. 2 flag carrier, said Friday that it has signed a comprehensive cooperation pact with Kazakhstan’s Air Astana Airlines.

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) reached in Astana, Kazakhstan, allows the two airlines to upgrade their existing code-sharing arrangement from “block space” to “free sale” and to expand cooperation in ground operations, in-flight services, information technology know-how and ticketing.

The free sale system that goes into effect on July 1 allows both carriers to book seats on the partner airline’s flights without restrictions if space is available. At present, Asiana and Air Astana use a block space plan that gives each other only a set number of seats. (Yonhap)