Etihad bullish on new routes and first class services for 2015
By David Flynn, July 10 2014
Etihad Airways plans a busy start to 2015 with six new destinations, new Boeing 787 routes plus the debut of first class on flights to Brisbane, Singapore and Moscow.
As we've already reported, Brisbane will see a daily direct flight to Etihad's Abu Dhabi hub from 1 June 2015, dropping the current Singapore stopover and moving to the Gulf airline's impressive new Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
The Indian mega-city of Kolkata will see daily Etihad flights from 15 February, with the Spanish capital of Madrid following on 29 March.
1 May marks the start of daily flights between Abu Dhabi and the Ugandan city of Entebbe, one of the most important business and government centres in East Africa.
Edinburgh is next on the roster, with daily flights from 8 June.
"These new destinations have been selected to expand our coverage and strengthen our customer proposition in the strategically important markets of Europe, Asia and Africa" said Etihad Airways president James Hogan
In the same month Hong Kong will be bumped up to four Etihad flights per week from 15 June while Algiers steps up to three weekly flights from 17 June.
Also in June 2015, Etihad will debut its Boeing 787 Dreamliner onto daytime flights to Moscow and upgrade its daily Singapore-Abu Dhabi flight to a three-class Airbus A330-300, bringing Etihad's first class cabins to travellers in both cities for the first time.
The Boeing 787 is an especially welcome win for business travellers of Brisbane and Moscow thanks to its new First Suites and Business Studio seats.
Etihad says it will also increase the number of flights to key cities in North America, the Middle East and India in the first half of 2015.
The airline's fleet will see nine new aircraft delivered in the first half of next year: three Airbus A380s, three Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners and three aircraft from the Airbus A320 family.
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David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
12 Jun 2014
Total posts 71
Tried etihad first class few times, great product! Like to see 787-9 on Melbourne route. Current J class not that great. Prefer SQ.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
05 Jun 2014
Total posts 209
Cant quite remeber where I read it but I think MEL and SYD are getting the a380
09 Mar 2014
Total posts 2
Correct. A380 for Sydney in June 2015 and Melbourne in 2016. Melbourne will also have brand new Etihad J and F lounges. When the A380 arrives.They will open for the first A380 flight.
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