Etihad Airways to Increase Flights to Australia

(14 Feb 2022)  Etihad Airways has unveiled plans to increase its Melbourne and Sydney services from five flights per week to daily from 27 March 2022, offering a total of 14 weekly flights between Abu Dhabi and Australia.

The new daily services will be operated using Boeing 787 aircraft in a two-cabin configuration and have been timed to offer travellers a mix of morning and evening departures that provide convenient two-way connectivity to Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Etihad Airways Boeing 787-9 reg: A6-BLX. Picture by Steven Howard of TravelNewsAsia.com

With the new flights and through the airline’s codeshare partnership with Virgin Australia, travellers will have access to connecting options on a single ticket to over 80 routes on Virgin Australia’s growing domestic network.

The additional flights will also increase cargo capacity between Abu Dhabi and Australia to 240 tonnes a week, supporting the flow of international trade to and from the states of Victoria and New South Wales.

 “Etihad is excited to ramp up services to Melbourne and Sydney at the end of March, and it’s the perfect timing given the reopening of Australia’s borders and Etihad celebrating 15 years of operations to Australia,” said Sarah Built, Vice President Sales - Australia and New Zealand at Etihad Airways. “Etihad’s combined double-daily flights to eastern Australia will boost vital trade and tourism ties while providing guests with convenient travel options to Abu Dhabi and beyond to the rest of Etihad’s network. Close to 900,000 travellers flew with Etihad to and from Australia in 2019, with Melbourne and Sydney both being some of the best-performing routes in Etihad’s global network, and Etihad is confident that the market will continue to recover as COVID19 recedes.”