Etihad Airways is to launch a four-weekly service from Abu Dhabi to Beijing, starting March 30 next year.
The carrier will ply the route on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, with flight EY888 departing Abu Dhabi at 2345 and arriving in Beijing at 1130 the next day. The return leg (EY889) will leave the Chinese capital on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 1910, arriving into Abu Dhabi at 0020 the next day.
The new route will also offer travellers an alternative way to fly from the UK to China, as flight timings from London will allow for connections in Abu Dhabi. From the end of March 2008 there will be a retiming of flight EY012, which will depart London at 1235 and arrive into Abu Dhabi at 2245, one hour before the China-bound flight leaves. (Conveniently, this is the minimum connection time for flights from Abu Dhabi airport.)
Etihad will service the new Abu Dhabi-Beijing route with a two-class Airbus A330-200, configured with 240 in economy and 22 in business class.
With the Olympics taking place in Beijing next year it’s unsurprising that there has been a flurry of new flights and partnerships with Chinese airlines recently – China Southern officially became a member of the Skyteam Alliance last month (see online news November 20).
For more information visit etihadairways.com.
Report by Mark Caswell
