Etihad Airways will add a fourth year-round daily rotation between its Abu Dhabi hub and Heathrow within its upcoming winter schedule. The UAE national carrier says the enhanced frequency will launch on October 27 to link the two capitals and timed to depart the Middle East mid-morning and return for a late evening departure from London.
It follows a successful trial by Etihad with extra seasonal services this summer into Heathrow, which has seen up to five connections a day between the two airports.
The airline is rostering its two-class Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner for the new frequencies, with the jet configured with 28 Business Studios and 271 economy seats. Guests looking for the airline’s famous ‘Residence’ option or first class ‘apartments’, will need to fly on one of the carrier’s existing thrice-daily Airbus A380 services into the West London airport.
Robin Kamark, chief commercial officer, Etihad Aviation Group, said: “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. 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.”