Etihad Airways, the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates, has commenced non-stop daily flights between Abu Dhabi and Washington, DC, creating the primary direct air link between the 2 capitals.
The new service to Washington Dulles International Airport was introduced to fulfill strong demand for presidency and business travel, in addition to growing demand for leisure trips between and beyond the cities.
“Government and company customers in both markets have given us strong indication that the Abu Dhabi – Washington route can support a regular service from day one,” explained James Hogan, Etihad chief executive.
“We have confidently responded by committing 3,360 seats every week and already our forward bookings at the route are very encouraging in both directions,” Hogan added.
“In addition, we’re going to open a US$6.8 million premium lounge this week in Terminal A at Dulles Airport to profit our Diamond First and Pearl Business Class passengers.”
Flight EY131 departs Abu Dhabi International Airport at 10:00 every day for the 15 hour journey to Washington, DC, the fourth North American destination for Etihad Airways after Big apple, Chicago and Toronto.
To date, Etihad Airways has carried almost two million passengers between Abu Dhabi and North America, achieving 12.6 per cent growth in passenger numbers last year.
Etihad Airways serves the Abu Dhabi – Washington, DC, route with ultra-long range Airbus A340-500 aircraft, seating 240 passengers in a spacious three-class cabin – 12 in Diamond First, 28 in Pearl Business and 200 in Coral Economy Class.
In addition to providing much-needed flights between the capitals, the brand new services can even provide a further international connection to Abu Dhabi International Airport, that’s growing as a global air transport hub for passengers and load.
As portion of its global hub strategy, Abu Dhabi Airport will open a brand new terminal in 2017 increasing the once a year passenger capacity from the present 12.5 million to 30 million.
Provision can be being made for further expansion to house as much as 60 million passengers per year.