Passengers said that they were asked to wait in the plane because Abu Dhabi International was too crowded with travellers from other stranded flights.
The airport was closed for a little more than an hour from 2.30am local time on Saturday, Etihad said.
Pilots who have flown the Indonesia to Singapore route say it’s not unusual for delays to requests to increase altitude to avoid bad weather.
Seven bodies have been recovered from the sea, some fully clothed, which could indicate the Airbus A320-200 was intact when it hit the water.
Passenger traffic related to Russia and other countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States plunged 18.2 per cent from a year earlier in November, Dubai Airports said.
The Indonesian Navy spotted objects suspected to be an emergency door and underwater objects resembling a plane, a senior official said.
U.S. assistance could include air, surface or underwater detection capabilities, said Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary.
The Indonesian search team suspects the plane is under water with no signal detected from the emergency local transmitter yet.
After a two-hour closure, all diverted flights have proceeded to Abu Dhabi and delayed outbound flights have begun departing, a statement said.
Etihad Airways diverted 15 inbound flights to five other airports in the region including Dubai World Central and Muscat.
The Indonesia AirAsia plane disappeared after its pilot failed to get permission to fly higher to avoid bad weather during a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore on Sunday.
Airbus A320-200 flights are designed to be used intensively on short routes and are favoured by the low-cost airlines that run such routes.
Rescue aircraft searching for the plane, missing for more than 12 hours, have returned to base, officials said.
The new order will help Kuwait Airways expand its operations through the launch of new routes.
The deal is expected to give Etihad greater access to the fourth largest travel market in Europe.
The upgrade will allow the airport to handle wide body aircraft such as the A380 and the Boeing 787.
The additional service will increase passenger and cargo capacity to and from Birmingham by 42 per cent, the airline said.
The new service is scheduled to begin from August 1 2015, the airline said in a statement.
Doha carrier poised to receive Airbus’ latest model which will fly to Frankfurt from January
Ghaith Al Ghaith describes how flydubai became the Middle East’s largest short-haul airline in just five years.
The Dubai-based carrier is preparing for its ‘busiest’ week of 2014.
Emirates set to be first airline to fly the A380 to Perth next summer
The Abu Dhabi-based airline is expanding its US network as it looks to tap into the growing business and trade links between the US and the UAE.
The handover of Airbus’ first mainly carbon-composite jet was originally scheduled for December 13.
The low-cost carrier is launching new routes to Zagreb, Sarajevo and Sofia.
Airbus’ finance director aired the possibility of cancelling the world’s largest airliner project due to poor sales.
The two airlines will share services on 49 routes, more than double the previous number, state-owned SAA said in a statement today.
ICD is already the majority shareholder of DAE, holding 55 per cent.
The new Airbus A350 was scheduled for delivery on Saturday, December 13.
The industry’s net profit is expected to rise to $25 billion in 2015, from an estimated $19.9 billion in 2014.