Etihad

Towards the middle of last week, Sydney Airport broke the news that Turkish Airlines is launching a new service to New South Wales (which will go non-stop in 2026), and it has now broken the news that Etihad will be adding more daily flights between Abu Dhabi and Sydney from next year.

It was only a few days ago that we heard that Air France was suspending its service between Paris and Abu Dhabi from the end of October, and yet we're already seeing Etihad responding to this schedule change and it's responding strongly.

Compared to what it was (and what it aimed to be) five or six years ago, Etihad is now a much smaller airline, but the past couple of years has seen the airline adding more routes and growing its network and we now know to expect two new routes to Europe from summer 2025.

At the end of last month, the Etihad schedules were updated to show the A380 dropping from 14 to 12 weekly frequencies on the London route for part of winter 2024/25 and now, following a further schedule update, it looks like Etihad plans to keep that reduction in place for considerably longer.

Etihad has announced that with advanced bookings looking strong and with demand for travel not really showing much sign of waning (despite the economic outlook), it will increase its frequencies between Abu Dhabi and New York to offer flyers in those cities a double daily service.

The rumors that Etihad would bring back at least some of its A380 grew strongest in late summer and now, after a period in which the airline hasn't been saying much about its Whale Jets, we finally have news that the rumors were true. Four Etihad A380s will be returning to the skies later this year.

When Etihad flight EY888 landed in Beijing this morning at 05:25 (local time) it was a significant occasion. After all the turmoil that the past two years have thrown up, EY888 signaled the start of the first regular non-stop international passenger service to Beijing by a foreign carrier since the Chinese capital's authorities announced that services could resume.

As the travel world continues to recover from the shock of the past two years and airlines start to see demand claiming back towards levels last seen in 2019, Etihad has brought back its stopover deals for travelers transiting through Abu Dhabi.

Like all the pre-pandemic residents of T4, Etihad had to move into temporary accommodation as the pandemic ran roughshod over the travel industry and demand for flights plummeted, but with Terminal 4 now scheduled to reopen next week, the carrier has confirmed that it will be shuttering its operations in Terminals 2 and 3 and heading back to its original home.

The Dubai Airshow is currently in full swing and amidst a few impressive fly-bys and a lot of industry talk, a cabin that a lot of us have been waiting to see has made its first public appearance - the Etihad A350-1000 Business Class cabin has finally been unveiled.

The Etihad Airbus A380 is home to the most opulent way of traveling on a commercial airliner (The Residence), one of the world's best First Class seats (the Etihad First Class Suite) and it's only one of two commercial aircraft to offer an onboard shower. Sadly, if you were hoping to try out any of these indulgences you won't be doing so any time soon. 

Etihad has joined the growing list of airlines that are scheduling increased services between their home hubs and various cites in the United States and, in some cases, restarting routes that have been mothballed since the start of the current crisis. Etihad's latest schedule changes seen the airline planning to significantly increase services to Chicago and New York in just a few weeks' time.

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Etihad introduced the concept of allowing flyers to bid for a one cabin upgrade back in 2012 but, up until now, the only form of payment Etihad recognised for upgrades was cash. This has now changed.

Unlike Emirates (an airline which has more A380 aircraft than most other airlines put together) Etihad has just 10 Airbus A380s and right now those aircraft serve just 5 of Etihad's worldwide destinations. From July the airline is adding a 6th - Seoul.

Etihad doesn't belong to an airline alliance but, thanks to its investment in a number of other airlines, it does have what it calls "a partnership". The partnership is made up of 8 airlines contains Alitalia and, more surprisingly, airberlin which is a member of the oneworld alliance. Up until now, from a flyer benefits perspective, the partnership hasn't been that well coordinated...but Etihad has just changed all of that.

It's been a long time coming and faced a number of long delays but the Etihad First Class Lounge & Spa Abu Dhabi is finally open as of today. Without having visited the lounge in person (clearly!) I'm not in much of a position to comment on what the Etihad First Class lounge in Abu Dhabi is like so, what follows is all the information and pictures Etihad has supplied so far.

After a relaxing time in the Etihad Premium Lounge it was time to try out my second Etihad Business Class product of the trip - this time on their Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. I arrived at the gate after boarding had already commenced but there was no line for priority boarding so I was soon on the jet bridge looking at the aircraft that I was about to board.

In part one of my review of the Etihad Business Class A380 product (posted yesterday) I concentrated on the Etihad A380 cabin and the Etihad Business Class "Business Studio" seats while, in today's post, I'll take a look at the rest of the onboard product including the entertainment, the connectivity, the food and the service provided.

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