Etihad to start daily A380 service to Melbourne
Etihad Airways will deploy an Airbus A380 on daily services to Melbourne from June 2016. It will replace of one of the Boeing 777-300ERs currently serving the Victorian capital twice daily.
The introduction of Etihad’s flagship A380, with the luxurious “The Residence” and lounge room on board, will increase capacity on the route by 26 per cent and take the total number of seats on the route per week to more than 11,500.
Melbourne will be the fourth destination to receive Etihad’s A380 services, following a debut to Sydney, a subsequent route to London, and New York launching in late November.
James Hogan, Etihad president and chief executive
, said: “Melbourne is an important point on our global network, and our Abu Dhabi to Melbourne services continue to generate very high seat load factors on a year round basis.” “After just three months of operations, demand for our second daily service is already exceeding our expectations. Deploying the 496-seat A380 to Melbourne will enable us to accelerate our growth in the Victorian market by providing additional capacity, particularly in business class, where demand for seats continually outstrips supply.” The A380 will depart from Abu Dhabi at 21.45, arriving in Melbourne at 17.20 the next day. In the opposite direction, flights will take off from Melbourne at 22.40, landing in Abu Dhabi at 06.45 the following morning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UEhl8GyXfBY
