Etihad A380s for Sydney, Melbourne; Boeing 787s for Brisbane, Perth

Yes, as do I, but not at the expense of their BNE-SIN flight which is the best product on that route!

Yeah, but their SIN-BNE timing isn't great.

I suspect that once the 787 flies to BNE it will be direct to AUH.

That'll be "...sometime in 2016-2017". No hurry Hogan, don't bother to fill the obvious large gap in the market.

They certainly should fly direct from Brisbane to Abu Dhabi, given that they do so from not only the southern capitals but also from Perth, and that their Gulf rival Emirates does so. Good old Qantas of course does not.

The Etihad changeover at Singapore is a nightmare.

I wonder if EY or maybe QR will do a limited service to OOL non-stop 3 times a week. I think there is the population to justify it considering they would only need to sell roughly 235 tickets per flight to fill the plane. It wouldn't even be the 500,000 people calling the Goldie home but people from BNE would commute as well as northern NSW folk too. Would also be the only real full service carrier at the airport too for long-haul.

Actually, mixed J & F lounges are quite common to Emirates as well, with the only dedicated F lounges operated by EK in DXB.

The mixed lounges run by EK aren't terribly good compared to my LHR EY lounge experience. 

I hope they go with the lounge model used in AUH rather than that used in LHR. In AUH it's all effectively one lounge, the F and J lounges are separated by secure doors to the F section, which is wonderful for those times when the J section is cram packed (which is often). If they use the same format that is implemented in LHR, then well... it's every man/woman for him/her self :S

I found the LHR lounge to be nicer than the Business lounge at AUH. It depends on what flight you catch.

I took the 9.15am flight out of LHR and the lounge was pretty quiet. The staff came around to offer coffee and the removal of used plates etc was swift. The spa manager came around and organised my massage while I drank my coffee. He came over to take me to the spa later on. 

This isn't my experience in AUH where the lounge was ridiculously crowded (though I managed to score a seat). 

Im flying F the entire time on my upcoming trip. I don't mind a shared lounge if it's anything like AUH. That said, I will look forward to experiencing the F lounge at AUH - I'm sure it's very good judging by the quality of their F suites. 

Yeah... Agreed re the J lounge in AUH. It's usually disgustingly crowded... At least it is whenever I fly through. But at least if you're flying F or a VA Plat flying Y & J you can escape to the F lounge. 
Whereas in LHR, if you're flying F or a VA Plat flying J or Y and the lounge is crowded... there's nowhere to go. 

The F lounge in AUH is great but must admit the J lounge is not to write home about. That said the Etihad F/J lounge in Dublin is one of the best lounges in terms of service and offerings I have seen anywhere. So they can get it right if they put their mind to it.

So you think that Etihad will pull the A380 off Melbourne because it can't see this one suite? I would suggest that The Residence is a 'money for jam' proposition, that it's pure profit for Etihad. On many routes they will find somebody to pay for it and those which run it empty will not change the overall economics of the A380 with its other suites plus what looks to be a "world's best" business class too. I think your outright statement will prove to be in error, Smit, Etihad will have no trouble getting passengers onto its A380 and even if they don't sell The Residence every flight that will not make the whole thing uneconomical.

Re: modernising. Seeing as the motif on the tail is the National Emblem of the UAE, probably never. EY have a very classy, timeless livery at the moment. Hopefully their 'updated' livery will be just as classy.

The livery is fine. The gold "Etihad" script and the font used are both modern yet exotic. The motif however is incongruent with the image it tries to convey through its products.