AIN Staff

United Arab Emirates national carrier Etihad Airways celebrated its fourth birthday last week by introducing an interline agreement with Australian operator Virgin Blue that connects its 45-destination network with 22 Australian cities through Brisbane and Sydney. Abu Dhabi-based Etihad will increase frequency to Sydney from one daily flight to 11 flights a week next March; it flies to Brisbane three times a week.
Etihad expects to carry 4.5 million passengers this year at an average load factor of 68 percent across its fleet, which currently stands at 34 aircraft.&nbsp; It flies to Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and North America.
In addition to its two new Australian destinations, this year has seen Etihad introduce service to Dublin, Ireland; Kathmandu, Nepal; Kochi, India; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Milan, Italy; Singapore; and Thiruvananthapuram, India. Its new northern-winter schedule has increased weekly flights to 718, an increase of 29 percent from 12 months earlier. The new timetable includes a trebling of service to Muscat and a doubling of flights to Bahrain. The airline is owned by the government of Abu Dhabi and, like state-owned Qatar Airways, has been working hard to emulate the success of Dubai’s Emirates Airline–even to the point of ordering Airbus A380 very-large aircraft.

Virgin Blue alliance marks Etihad’s fourth birthday

United Arab Emirates national carrier Etihad Airways celebrated its fourth birthday last week by introducing an interline agreement with Australian operato

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