As the world slowly continues to reopen, Etihad Airways has revealed an enormous route revival planned for the coming month. In total, the airline will be serving 58 destinations. A significant emphasis has been placed on resuming flights to India, hinting that the country’s planned reopening to international flights may now be set in stone.
Like many airlines around the world, at the height of the pandemic, Etihad halted all flight operations. However, while some airlines such as easyJet opted to do this voluntarily, Etihad had no choice due to a government flight ban. However, the airline is now well into its return to the skies, with many more destinations planned for its recovery.
58 destinations
By August 1st, Etihad hopes to be operating flights to 58 different destinations across the world. The airline has already reopened several destinations, mainly in Europe and Asia.
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The first wave of destinations to rejoin the network will be served from July 16th. This will see Etihad resume flights to seven destinations in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia:
- Amman
- Belgrade
- Dusseldorf
- Kuwait
- Malé
- Manchester
- Munich
More destinations in August
The airline has also now planned routes to resume on August 1st. This would see the airline resuming flights to Africa for the first time since it grounded all of its operations, in addition to a return to India. In total, 20 new routes are planned to resume on August 1st. In North America, the airline will add Washington DC into its route portfolio.
The Abu Dhabi based carrier will also return to Casablanca, Rabat, and Seychelles in Africa. In Europe, the airline will be returning to Istanbul, Moscow, and Rome. In the Middle East, Etihad will return to Riyadh and Muscat.
Arguably Etihad’s biggest resumption will be returning to India. The country has mostly been closed to international flights for months now, except for some repatriation flights. However, on Friday Simple Flying reported that India would reopen to international flights on August 1st. Clearly, Etihad got the memo, as from that date it will fly to:
- Ahmedabad
- Bengaluru
- Chennai
- Kochi
- Kolkata
- Kozhikode
- Mumbai
- New Delhi
- Trivandrum
Of course, all of the routes are subject to the changing dynamics of the world, responding to the current pandemic. Individual routes may be scaled back or delayed due to changing flight bans and regulations.
Commenting on the planned expansion, Tony Douglas, Etihad Group CEO said,
“By August we aim to operate approximately 45 per cent of our pre-COVID capacity… Over the last few months, we have seized every opportunity to improve our processes, review our product offering, and to undertake the biggest fleet maintenance programme in our history. We are tremendously grateful to our customers and partners for their continued loyalty.”
Will you find any of Etihad’s new routes helpful? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!