Expats and those heading for a new life will have more choice flying to and from Australia in 2015 with a number of new routes being announced.
Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has announced plans for a second daily non-stop service between Abu Dhabi and Melbourne from 01 August 2015 and is currently the only airline to offer double daily non-stop flights between Melbourne and the United Arab Emirates.
The move will add more than 4,500 seats per week to the route along with more flexibility, with two timings from which to choose and more than double the number of weekly flight connections.
Melbourne will now be linked to more than 50 cities across Etihad Airways global network, including 20 double daily services to popular destinations in the Middle East and Europe such as London, Manchester, Dublin and Beirut.
In conjunction with its equity partners, Etihad Airways will offer double daily services to Rome and Milan with Alitalia, Berlin and Dusseldorf with airberlin, and Belgrade with Air Serbia.
There will also be new daily one stop connections to destinations such as Edinburgh, Geneva, Madrid and Zurich on the Etihad Airways network, Stuttgart and Vienna operated by the Air Berlin Group, and Venice operated by Alitalia, and improved access to other key destinations such as Athens and Brussels.
“We commenced flights to Melbourne in 2009 and it has since become one of the strongest routes on our network. Together with Virgin Australia and our other partner airlines, we have built a large and loyal customer base which has asked us for more choice,” said James Hogan, president and chief executive officer of Etihad Airways.
“We will be the only airline offering double daily non-stop flights between Melbourne and the UAE, and twice daily one-stop services to a vast network of business and leisure destinations worldwide,” he added.
Australian Tourism and Major Events Minister John Eren said it will mean greater choice for leisure and business travellers.”Etihad Airways has close ties to Australia with significant investments in our workforce, infrastructure, tourism, and commercial partnerships across four states. Investing more resources into Victoria not only deepens this commitment but also delivers major economic benefits,” he explained.
Meanwhile, direct flights from Cairns to Singapore will start at the end of May 2015. Virgin Australia partner and Singapore Airlines’ regional wing SilkAir will operate the route on Mondays and Thursdays.
Cairns will be SilkAir’s second Australian destination after Darwin, with Virgin Australia Velocity members able to earn both points and status credits when travelling with SilkAir and onwards with Singapore Airlines.
A formal agreement has been signed to give Australia’s Gold Coast direct flights to some of China’s most populous regions within the next few months. China-based airlines will operate from Chengdu and Wuhan.