UAE’s Etihad Airways to ramp up flights to New York from November

UAE carrier Etihad Airways will be increasing flights to New York this winter to offer travellers more choice.

The carrier will add four weekly flights on the Abu Dhabi – New York route November 15 onwards, providing 11 weekly nonstop services to John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK).

The new flights will be operated with a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. Meanwhile, existing daily services will continue on the carrier’s Airbus A350 aircraft, which has been deployed on the New York route since June.

Travelers will benefit from access between New York and Etihad’s global network of 70 destinations, particularly in the Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, as well as connections beyond New York, to and from 46 destinations throughout the Americas, with Etihad’s codeshare partner JetBlue, the company said in a statement.

Alex Featherstone, vice president network planning and alliances, said: “Etihad is enhancing its schedule this winter to provide even more options for our guests across key business and leisure destinations in our global network. Our New York service continues to perform strongly, and having already experienced record passenger demand this summer, Etihad is excited to be investing further in this market by building on frequency levels ahead of the peak winter travel period.”

Etihad passengers travelling to the US will be able to avail of the carrier’s US pre-clearance facility, permitting passengers bound for the US to process all immigration, customs and agriculture inspections in Abu Dhabi before they board their flight, avoiding immigration and queues on arrival in the US, the statement added.

With the additional flights to New York-JFK, and daily services to Chicago and Washington, Etihad will offer a total of 25 weekly services between Abu Dhabi and the US this winter.

The flight schedule for Abu Dhabi – New York service, effective November 15, 2022, is as follows:

Etihad posted a core operating profit of $296m for the first half of 2022. The carrier, carried 4.02 million passengers in H1 2022, over 3 million more than last year, with an average seat load factor of 75 per cent.

Read: Etihad Airways reports core operating profit of $296m in H1 2022, as travel demand recovers