Article from BTNews 6 JUNE 2016
Etihad expands in Australia
Two Australian-route milestones were celebrated by Etihad on Thursday with Melbourne joining the airline’s expanding network of A380 destinations and arrival of the Etihad B787 Dreamliner on the Perth service.
The four-cabin A380 will now operate one of the airline’s double-daily flights between Melbourne and Abu Dhabi, replacing one of the three-class B777-300ER aircraft that had been deployed on the route.
The B787-9 Dreamliner on the Perth route, with 299 seats, delivers 14% more capacity than the A330-200 it replaces.
Etihad senior vice-president of marketing Shane O’Hare said: “With Melbourne joining our A380 routes, Australia is the only country on our network with daily A380 services to two cities, Melbourne and Sydney.
“As a bonus for London-bound passengers, we now also offer the convenience and class-leading comfort of an all-A380 service all the way.”
On Perth, O’Hare, said the decision to upgrade to the Dreamliner reflected the importance of Western Australia to Etihad.
“Since launching flights between Perth and Abu Dhabi two years ago we have enjoyed strong two-way demand from passengers,” he said. “The Dreamliner, which adds 518 weekly seats to the route, gives us the extra capacity needed.”
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