Etihad Airways has announced 10 new direct routes from Abu Dhabi to destinations in Asia, Africa and the United States – including Hong Kong and Atlanta.
As part of its expansion plans for next year, which chief executive Antonoaldo Neves predicts will be the company's biggest ever, the UAE's national airline is now selling tickets to and from seven destinations in Asia, two in Africa and Atlanta on the US Eastern Seaboard.
Atlanta will be the first of the 10 new routes to take off, with flights scheduled to begin on July 2, 2025. When that happens, Etihad will be the only airline offering direct flights between the UAE and the capital of Georgia.
Flights to Taipei in northern Taiwan will start in September, followed by new routes to Medan, Phnom Penh and Krabi in October and Tunis, Chiang Mai, Hong Kong, Hanoi and Algiers in November. Tickets for each destination are already on sale.
Abu Dhabi tourism is 'going to explode'
Mr Neves said Etihad is on track for its biggest year, thanks in part to the expansion of Zayed International Airport. “In 2025, we're going to have 21 million passengers,” he said. “And departures will go from 56,000 in 2022 to more than 100,000, something that would never have been possible at the old terminal.”
In addition to expanding its network, Etihad has also outlined plans to fly more frequency to European destinations in the first half of next year and says it will prioritise scheduling to make travel times more convenient.
“Now tourists who come to Abu Dhabi from Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Russia or Switzerland – six destinations that are huge countries in Europe – can come to the UAE on a very convenient flight schedule.” added Mr Neves. “They arrive around 9 or 11am, go to the hotel. And then when they come back they can leave the hotel at 7am or 9am. It's perfect timing for tourists, so you're going to see the number of tourists explode next year.”
Etihad hopes its focus on Asia will increase the number of tourists visiting Abu Dhabi. “In the first part of this year, we had around 40 per cent capacity growth into Europe,” said Arik De, chief revenue and commercial officer. “Going into next year, we're going to add around 36 per cent capacity. That growth enables us to unlock this eastern network. Then it's not only amazing for the UAE, because a lot of these places into Asia are not currently served, but we are going to be the only airline that can take someone all the way from Nice to Hanoi, for example.”
Etihad had previously announced new direct services to Al Ameain, Warsaw and Prague, with flights set to begin in June and July. The airline will also start flying directly from Abu Dhabi to Nairobi, Kenya from December 15.
Passengers will pay more
By the end of 2025, Etihad plans to have more than 90 destinations in 50 countries across the world. This will be made possible with the arrival of new jets. Etihad expects to be operating more than 110 aircraft, up from 71 in 2022, including brand new A321LRs, Boeing 787s and Airbus A350s. The airline also plans to reinstate two of its A380 super jumbos early next year.
But passengers hoping to see a respite in airfares next year will probably be disappointed, according to Mr Neves, who points to aircraft supply chain issues faced by the aviation industry.
“In the end, airfares are about supply and demand and if planes are not delivered, demand is going to grow and fares are going to go up,” he explained. “I hope they deliver planes, because we're in the business of selling tickets and we want to sell more and cheaper tickets, but the reality is our load factors now are extraordinary. And Abu Dhabi is doing extraordinary well, so demand is really, really strong. So for fares to be controlled there is an urgent need for Boeing and Airbus to deliver planes.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
THE SIXTH SENSE
Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
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In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Read more from Aya Iskandarani
The essentials
What: Emirates Airline Festival of Literature
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Hot Tip: If waiting for your book to be signed looks like it will be timeconsuming, ask the festival’s bookstore if they have pre-signed copies of the book you’re looking for. They should have a bunch from some of the festival’s biggest guest authors.
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Most F1 world titles
7 — Michael Schumacher (1994, ’95, 2000, ’01 ’02, ’03, ’04)
7 — Lewis Hamilton (2008, ’14,’15, ’17, ’18, ’19, ’20)
5 — Juan Manuel Fangio (1951, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57)
4 — Alain Prost (1985, ’86, ’89, ’93)
4 — Sebastian Vettel (2010, ’11, ’12, ’13)
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Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
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The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
