Etihad Airways’ President and Chief Executive Officer James Hogan announced the launch of the airline’s second daily flight from Abu Dhabi to Melbourne. Mr. Hogan said the second daily non-stop service would put Etihad Airways in its strongest ever competitive position in the Melbourne market. Etihad Airways’ second daily non-stop service will start tomorrow.
Etihad Airways flight EY462 will depart Abu Dhabi at 10:30am local time on Saturday 1 August and touch down in Melbourne at approximately 6.05am on Sunday 2 August. The return flight EY463 will depart Melbourne at 3:00pm on 2 August and arrive in Abu Dhabi at 11.05pm the same day.
The new service will be operated by a three-class Boeing 777-300ER aircraft with eight seats in First Class, 40 in Business Class and 280 in Economy Class. It complements the airline’s existing daily non-stop B777 flight between Melbourne and Abu Dhabi.
“Becoming the only airline to offer double daily non-stop flights between Melbourne and the UAE clearly demonstrates our ongoing commitment to Victoria and exponentially increases the attractiveness of our customer proposition. From August 1 we will connect more international visitors to Melbourne from more markets in the Middle East and Europe and will offer Melbournians the convenience of two daily departures and one-stop connectivity to more than 50 great destinations” said Mr. Hogan.
The airline will also offer double daily connectivity between Melbourne and Manchester, Dublin, Beirut and London Heathrow, where guests will experience Etihad Airways’ flagship A380 aircraft. Etihad Airways will also offer double daily connections to Rome and Milan in conjunction with Alitalia, Berlin and Düsseldorf with airberlin, and Belgrade with Air Serbia.
The new double daily schedule for Melbourne increases to 39 the total number of non-stop weekly return flights the airline operates between its four Australian gateways. The airline flies daily from Brisbane and Perth and offers double daily flights from Sydney – 11 of which are operated by Etihad Airways and three which are operated by partner Virgin Australia.
Etihad Airways also codeshares on Virgin Australia flights to 44 destinations across Australia and six in New Zealand.
Schedule for Abu Dhabi – Melbourne flights, effective 1 August 2015:
| Flight No. | Origin | Departs | Destination | Arrives | Frequency | Aircraft |
EY462 (new flight) | Abu Dhabi (AUH) | 10:30 | Melbourne (MEL) | 06:05+1 | Daily | B777-300ER |
EY463 (new flight) | Melbourne (MEL) | 15:00 | Abu Dhabi (AUH) | 23:05 | Daily | B777-300ER |
EY460 (existing flight) | Abu Dhabi (AUH) | 21:45 | Melbourne (MEL) | 17:20+1 | Daily | B777-300ER |
EY461 (existing flight) | Melbourne (MEL) | 22:40 | Abu Dhabi (AUH) | 06:45+1 | Daily | B777-300ER |
All departures and arrivals are listed in local time.
