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| Etihad accounts for more than 60% of scheduled capacity at Abu Dhabi. In the two years since anna.aero launched, the airport has seen 30 new services start, more than half of which were launched by Etihad. Most recently, it launched services to Larnaca; a Chicago service begins in September. |
Located just 115 kilometres from Dubai airport, Abu Dhabi still has a long way to go to catch up its neighbour in terms of passenger traffic figures. However, in the last five years it has seen traffic more than double from under 4.5 million passengers to just over nine million last year. The majority of this growth has been driven by the creation in 2003 of the UAE’s national airline Etihad, which launched commercial flights in November 2003. It currently serves 53 destinations non-stop from Abu Dhabi.
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| Source: ADAC |
However, although Etihad now dominates the airport’s operations and accounts for over 60% of scheduled capacity at the airport a total of 30 other airlines also operate to and from Abu Dhabi. These airlines include European flag carriers (British Airways, KLM, Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines), Asian carriers (Jet Airways, PIA, Singapore Airlines) as well as regional rivals such as Egyptair, Gulf Air, Oman Air and Royal Jordanian). At present the airport is not served by any US carriers though Etihad does offer daily flights to New York JFK.
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| Etihad has signed a three-year deal to be the official shirt sponsor and partner of Premier League side Manchester City – the ‘richest club in the world’ after it was bought by Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan last summer. |
30 new services in the last two years
Since anna.aero launched two years ago the airport has seen over 30 new services start, over half of which Etihad has been responsible for.
| Airline | Destination | Start date |
| Etihad | Thiruvananthapuram (TRV) | 30 May 07 |
| Etihad | Dublin (DUB) | 02 Jul 07 |
| Etihad | Milan Malpensa (MXP) | 02 Sep 07 |
| Etihad | Brisbane (BNE) via Singapore | 27 Sep 07 |
| Etihad | Singapore (SIN) | 27 Sep 07 |
| Etihad | Kathmandu (KTM) | 21 Oct 07 |
| Sama | Dammam (DMM) | 15 Nov 07 |
| Sama | Riyadh (RUH) | 15 Nov 07 |
| Flyyeti.com | Kathmandu (KTM) | 06 Feb 08 |
| Etihad | Beijing (PEK) | 30 Mar 08 |
| Etihad | Kozhikode (CCJ) | 01 Aug 08 |
| Etihad | Chennai (MAA) | 01 Aug 08 |
| Etihad | Minsk (MSQ) | 05 Aug 08 |
| Airblue | Lahore (LHE) | 02 Sep 08 |
| PIA | Sialkot (SKT) | 26 Oct 08 |
| Etihad | Moscow Domodedovo (DME) | 01 Dec 08 |
| Etihad | Almaty (ALA) | 02 Dec 08 |
| Bahrain Air | Bahrain (BAH) | 29 Mar 09 |
| Etihad | Melbourne (MEL) | 29 Mar 09 |
| PIA | Rahim Yar Khan (RYK) | 01 Apr 09 |
| Sun Air | Khartoum (KRT) | 16 Apr 09 |
| Air India Express | Chennai (MAA) | 30 Apr 09 |
| Air India Express | Tiruchirapally (TRZ) | 30 Apr 09 |
| JAT Airways | Belgrade (BEG) via Larnaca | 05 May 09 |
| Etihad | Astana (TSE) | 07 May 09 |
| Safi Airways | Kabul (KBL) | 16 May 09 |
| Etihad | Istanbul (IST) | 01 Jun 09 |
| Etihad | Athens (ATH) | 02 Jun 09 |
| Etihad | Larnaca (LCA) | 14 Jun 09 |
| BlueWings | Düsseldorf (DUS) | 15 Jun 09 |
| BlueWings | Berlin Tegel (TXL) | 17 Jun 09 |
| Etihad | Chicago O’Hare (ORD) | 01 Sep 09 |
| Ukraine International | Kiev (KBP) | 25 Sep 09 |
| Source: Airline news, anna.aero database | ||
Chicago will become the airport’s second US destination when Etihad begins flights there in September. The only routes that Etihad has dropped from Abu Dhabi are London Gatwick (it managed to acquire sufficient slots to operate its triple daily flights to London Heathrow instead), and Colombo.
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| In June, Abu Dhabi-based Elite Aviation launched services to Düsseldorf (three times weekly) and Berlin (twice-weekly). The services are operated by Blue Wings. |
Abu Dhabi to host final round of this year’s F1 championship
On 1 November Abu Dhabi will host the final race of this year’s F1 motor racing championship. It will be the first time the Emirate has held a race around the purpose built Yas Marina Circuit, very close to the airport, and will be known as the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The region first hosted a Grand Prix in 2004 when Bahrain staged a race.
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| A US$6.8 billion redevelopment programme is underway at Abu Dhabi International Airport; work is taking place on the Midfield Terminal Complex – due for completion in 2011, it will be Etihad’s new base. |
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