Etihad outlines its A380 and Boeing 787 plans

Etihad Airways is fine-tuning its Airbus A380 and Boeing 787-9 operation plans as these new planes are readied to enter service as the airline announced via Twitter yesterday:

From the Eithad Twitter feed

The A380 plans call for the superjumbo to operate daily on all three flights between London and Abu Dhabi from May 2015, whilst Sydney will convert to a mixed A380/Boeing 777-300ER destination.

For London operations, the following dates are due for commencement:

• EY011/012 goes A380 from 27th December 2014
• EY017/018 goes A380 from 1st March 2014
• EY019/020 goes A380 from 1st May 2014

These flights are showing in the booking systems

EY11 commencement

EY11/EY17 from 1st March 2015

Etihad Equipment switchover complete by 1st May 2015.

Sydney will get a daily A380 service from 1st June 2015, creating a “Falcon-hop” service between London and Sydney, with a second 777-300ER operate service either operated by Etihad or code-shared with Virgin Australia.

A380 operations from 1st July 2015.

Etihad will operate their A380s in a four class format:

• The Residence (Their ultra-premium seating/personalised service
• First Class
• Business Class
• Economy

Looking to  their Boeing 787 operation plans, the planes will be operating to Doha, Düsseldorf, Mumbai, Washington Dulles, Brisbane and Moscow Domodedovo according to their Twitter announcement:

From the Eithad Twitter feed

• Doha will operate on a limited basis from 1st December to 31st December 2014
• Düsseldorf will operate on a limited basis from 1st December to 31st December 2014
• Mumbai and Washington Dulles will commence on a daily basis from 1st January 2015
• Brisbane will commence on 1st June 2015, with the service replacing the existing service that makes a stop in Singapore
• Moscow-DME will commence on 1st June 2015

Again, these are reflected in the booking engines – you just have to find them:

Doha

Washington Dulles

For those who like flying new planes, and whose flights require them to be on Etihad operated services, this comes as a real boon to you. Just remember schedules do fluctuate – especially when new equipment comes online, and booking a plane ride for a first flight can sometimes be a bad idea when there’s an equipment change and you’re on a fixed ticket…

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