Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 13 February 2019 — Etihad Airways will introduce the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on its daily service from Abu Dhabi to Chengdu, effective 1 July 2019, replacing the Airbus A330-200 currently operating the route. Also from 1 July, the airlines’ daily service from Abu Dhabi to Shanghai will be upgraded from the 787-9 to the larger 787-10 Dreamliner.
- Chengdu to be
served daily with Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner from 1 July 2019
- Shanghai to be
upgraded to larger 787-10 Dreamliner from 1 July 2019
Once the changes take
effect, the airline will fly all 28 weekly services to China’s four main
gateways – Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai and Hong Kong – with the next generation
Dreamliner aircraft.
The 787-9 service to
Chengdu will feature Etihad
Airways’ next-generation Business and Economy cabins, configured with 299 seats
- 28 Business Studios and 271 Economy Smart Seats. The upgrade of aircraft will
also see an increase in belly-hold cargo capacity of four tonnes.
The 787-10 service to
Shanghai will be configured with 336 seats - 32 Business Studios and 304
Economy Smart. Belly-hold cargo capacity will be increased by two and a half tonnes.
Robin Kamark, Etihad
Aviation Group Chief Commercial Officer, said: “We are delighted to include Chengdu
to our growing list of Dreamliner destinations. The move marks a milestone for
Etihad as all our Chinese gateways will now be served by these technologically
advanced aircraft, ensuring our guests experience the latest in-flight product
innovations. We are equally pleased to be upgrading our Shanghai flights to our
787-10 aircraft.”
“China is an incredibly
important market for Etihad and we have significantly grown our presence there since
launching services to Beijing in 2008. Abu Dhabi’s non-oil trade shows that
China is among the top-five countries with key trade relations with the emirate.
We look forward to building on these strong foundations and for our guests to
experience our 787 Dreamliner product on their flights to and from China.”
Etihad Airways recently
celebrated 10 years of direct flights between Abu Dhabi and China, the
capital-capital airlink was launched in 2008. Since 2008,
the airline has carried over four and a half million passengers between Abu
Dhabi and China.
The airline has witnessed
significant yearly growth in passenger numbers on its services to and from
China, further boosted by codeshare agreements with partner airlines and the
mutual visa-exemption policy between the UAE and China, implemented in January 2018.
Timetables: Abu Dhabi – China schedules
Flight | Origin | Departs | Desti | Arrives | Freq | Aircraft |
EY 818 | Abu Dhabi | 08:15 | Cheng du | 19:40 | Daily* | Boeing 787-9 |
EY 811 | Cheng du | 21:00 | Abu Dhabi | 00:25 | Daily* | Boeing 787-9 |
Note: All departures and arrivals are listed in local time. *Daily
operation during summer timetable, three weekly flights during winter
timetable.
Flight | Origin | Departs | Desti | Arrives | Freq | Aircraft |
EY 862 | Abu Dhabi | 21:45 | Shang hai | 10:35 | Daily | Boeing 787-10 |
EY 867 | Shang hai | 00:45 | Abu Dhabi | 05:55 | Daily | Boeing 787-10 |
Note: All departures and arrivals are listed in local time. Shanghai to
be upgraded to 787-10 from 1 July 2019. Departure of 1st 787-10 from
Shanghai will be on 3 July 2019.
Flight | Origin | Departs | Desti | Arrives | Freq | Aircraft |
EY 888 | Abu Dhabi | 21:30 | Beijing | 08:50 | Daily | Boeing 787-10 |
EY 889 | Beijing | 01:25 | Abu Dhabi | 06:10 | Daily | Boeing 787-10 |
Note: All departures and arrivals are listed in local time. Beijing
upgraded to 787-10 Dreamliner on 1 Jan 2019.
Flight | Origin | Departs | Desti | Arrives | Freq | Aircraft |
EY 834 | Abu Dhabi | 22:05 | Hong Kong | 10:05 | Daily | Boeing 787-9 |
EY 833 | Hong Kong | 19:45 | Abu Dhabi | 00:05 | Daily | Boeing 787-9 |
Note: All departures and arrivals are listed in local time. Hong Kong to
be served by 787-9 Dreamliner from 31 March 2019. Departure of 1st
787-9 from Hong Kong will be on 1 April 2019.