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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.
Etihad’s new plans for Paris
As thing stand, Etihad operates a single daily service between Abu Dhabi and Paris on the following schedule:
EY031 AUH 02:25 – 07:45 CDG (Daily)
EY032 CDG 10:20 – 19:00 AUH (Daily)
These flights are operated by Etihad’s A350-1000 aircraft which operate in a 2-cabin configuration offering 44 Business Class seats (Collins Aerospace Vector suites) and 327 Economy Class seats.
With Air France now out of the picture, Etihad is stepping in to fill the void and from 1 November 2024 (4 days after the Air France route goes dark), it will operate an Airbus A380 between Abu Dhabi and Paris CDG.
Not only will the introduction of the whale jet significantly increase Etihad’s capacity on this route …
- Economy Class boosted by 90 seats per flight
- Business Class boosted by 16 seats per flight
… but it will also see the airline’s First Class offering return to Paris in the form of 10 First Class Apartments and The Residence.
On its own, however, the introduction of the A380 won’t be enough to compensate for the loss of the 472-seater Air France 777-300ER that was supposed to operate on this route from 27 October, and Etihad knows this.
That’s why from 15 January 2025, we’ll see Etihad add a second daily flight to this route using its 787-9 aircraft.
This is what the Etihad schedule will look like then:
EY031 AUH 02:40 – 07:30 CDG (Daily A380 service)
EY033 AUH 14:20 – 19:10 CDG (Daily 787-9 service)
EY032 CDG 09:45 – 19:25 AUH (Daily A380 service)
EY034 CDG 20:45 – 06:25+1 day AUH (Daily 787-9 service)
Not only will this 787-9 Dreamliner add a further 199 Economy Class seats and a further 28 Business Class seats to this route, but it will follow in the footsteps of the A380 and also offer 8 First Class suites from Collins Aerospace.
In total, this is what Etihad will offer in either direction between Abu Dhabi and Paris from 15 January 2025:
- 18 First Class seats
- 98 Business Class seats
- 616 Economy Class seats
On a pure seat count basis, there still won’t be as many seats on this route as there would have been had the Air France 777 operated alongside the Etihad A350-1000, and as Etihad doesn’t offer a cabin between Business Class and Economy Class there’s now no Premium Economy option on this route either, but 98 Business Class seats vs 58 Business Class seats and 18 First Class seats vs zero First Class seats should go some way to making up for this.
Related: Etihad adds two new European routes and add flights to Zurich
Bottom line
Etihad has quickly moved to fill the void left by Air France suspending its route between Paris And Abu Dhabi by scheduling an A380 to take over the current daily flight from 1 November and by adding a second daily flight between Abu Dhabi and Paris from 15 January 2025.
Not only will these changes see Etihad offering a lot more sets between the two cities than we’ve seen in recent years, but it also signals the return of the airline’s First Class cabins to Paris … now let’s how we see some award availability open up!
