Etihad Airways launches Flights to Jeddah

Etihad Airways has launched its first flight to Jeddah, the Abu Dhabi-based airline’s 31st destination within three years.

The three-times-a week service, operating between Abu Dhabi and King Abdulaziz International Airport, is Etihad’s third destination in the Kingdom, complementing existing flights to Riyadh and Dammam.

Etihad will fly to Jeddah throughout the year, which will be especially popular during the annual Hajj season, when every year more than two million pilgrims travel through Jeddah to take part in the important religious festival.

Etihad Airways will operate either of its brand new state-of-the-art Boeing 777-300 ER or Airbus 330-200 aircraft on the new route.

The airline will operate three flights a week between Abu Dhabi and Jeddah, with one flight every Tuesday, and two flights on Sunday, until 16 June 2006.

Thereafter, the service will operate every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, with EY 725 departing Abu Dhabi at 13:00, arriving in Jeddah at 14:45.

The return flight, EY 726, then departs Jeddah at 16:00, arriving in Abu Dhabi at 19:45 that evening.

“We anticipate a great deal of demand on the Abu Dhabi to Jeddah service,” said Hamza Sharif, Etihad's KSA general manager. “The Kingdom and the UAE have tremendously close cultural and commercial ties, and Etihad will enhance this further.”

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