Eithad is filling in the slots that it gained back from Jet Airways, with an announcement to launch a fourth daily service between Abu Dhabi and London Heathrow.
Etihad Airbus A380 at London Heathrow Airport – Image, Economy Class and Beyond
The new service commences 27th October 2019. The new service introduces a mid-morning departure from Abu Dhabi and a late evening departure from London Heathrow. This follows the summer seasonal service that was introduced this year.
The combined timetable looks like this:
Data – Etihad
The additional flight will use an A380 (EY25/26), whilst adding a two-class Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on EY17/18
In terms of seating, the Airbus A380 will feature “The Residence”, 9 First Class Apartments, 80 Business Class studios and 405 Economy Class seats. The Boeing 787-9 will feature 28 Business Studios Seats and 271 Economy Class Seats.
In quotes
Robin Kamark, Commercial Officer, Etihad Aviation Group Chief, said:
“The flagship Abu Dhabi to London route is tremendously popular with point-to-point business and leisure travellers, and those transiting beyond our hub and we recently boosted frequencies between the two cities to meet increased demand at peak travel times. Adding a fourth year-round flight will provide much needed capacity and optimised timings and easy connections to key destinations across the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia.
“The new service demonstrates our commitment to the crucially important UK market, and ensures we provide our customers with all the benefits of a next-generation fleet across all 42 weekly departures to and from the United Kingdom.”
Filling those Jet sized slots
When Jet Airways teetered on the brink of bankruptcy, Etihad snatched back the slots fast than you could say “lease terminated”. Filling them has been a challenge, with Eithad leasing some of them back out – whilst taking a chance on the London market to see if the extra connectivity over the summer would work.
It seems it’s found one pair that’s works nicely fir the airline.
With its service from Manchester as well, it seems to be a good mixture for the airline.
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