Etihad doubles flights to Malaysia

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, will add a new daily flight between Abu Dhabi and Kuala Lumpur to offer a double daily service from July 15th. The new schedule will add 1400 new seats per week to the route - an increase in capacity of approximately 23 per cent. It will enable Etihad Airways to offer better flight connections to its global network and to foster the growth of tourism and trade. Etihad Airways' President and Chief Executive Officer James Hogan said the new double daily flights would cater for the already significant and growing demand for passenger air travel and cargo between Malaysia and Abu Dhabi and beyond to the GCC, the Middle East and Europe. "We have enjoyed strong support from business and leisure travellers at both ends of the route. More than one million passengers have travelled with Etihad Airways to and from Malaysia since the commencement of services in January 2007. "The airline's new double daily schedule caters for the growing demand for travel between Abu Dhabi and Malaysia and gives our guests a greater choice of travel times. "Malaysian travellers will enjoy shorter connection times in Abu Dhabi and more convenient onward travel to Europe. Travellers from other points on Etihad Airways' network will benefit from the extra daily frequency to Malaysia and improved connections in Abu Dhabi." Mr Hogan also highlighted the opportunities to grow business travel and trade as a result of the increase in frequency and seat and cargo capacity. "The United Arab Emirates is Malaysia's most important partner in the Gulf region with trade increasing by approximately 20 per cent between 2011 and 2012. The extra belly hold capacity of the double daily services will provide significant new opportunities for the airline's highly successful freight division, Etihad Cargo." The double daily flights will be operated by two Airbus A330-200 aircraft with a two-class configuration of 18 seats in business class and 236 in economy class. The aircraft will come into service through a dry lease arrangement with partner airline, Jet Airways. Etihad Airways' current codeshare agreement with Malaysia Airlines will be extended to the extra daily service, providing seamless connectivity beyond the airlines' respective Abu Dhabi and Kuala Lumpur hubs.