Etihad Airways Launches New Seasonal Routes to Krakow and Salalah: Summer 2026 Flight Details

Etihad Airways has become a very agile airline. The carrier of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi has learnt from its lessons which have hindered its growth in the past and is now applying well thought through strategies when launching new destinations. This seems to also be the case with the latest announced Etihad destinations for summer 2026: Salalah and Krakow.

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Krakow Seasonal Route: Etihad’s New Summer 2026 Poland Connection

Krakow is Poland’s second largest city behind Warsaw. The city has a fairly large population counting just north of 800,000 people and, most importantly for Etihad, is an extremely beautiful city to visit. Making it a prime tourist destination during the summer months. And that’s were Etihad truly sees value in launching a new flight there.

Krakow Seasonal Schedule: Three Weekly Flights June-September 2026

The goal of this flight is to intercept as many leisure travelers incoming to Krakow during the summer months. Flights will take off just ahead of the summer holiday peak on June 15th 2026. Etihad will continue to operate the flight up to September 5th 2026 when the last EK163 flight will cover the Abu Dhabi-Krakow route.

The flight is clearly oriented towards a leisure customer persona. Frequencies are limited throughout the week as is often the case on this flight type were users are less demanding in terms of travel dates or flexibility. Etihad Airways seasonal route to Krakow will operate three times per week with flights every:

• Tuesday
• Thursday
• Saturday

EY163 to Krakow: Flight Times and Seasonal Frequency

EY163 is the flight number of the new Etihad Airways seasonal route to Krakow launching in 2026. Etihad’s new flight from Abu Dhabi to Krakow will operate on a schedule optimized to enable onward travel via AUH airport.

Looking at the departure time from Abu Dhabi, 2:40AM, I’d assume the feeder traffic is coming from Australian and Asian flights.

Timings for EY163 Etihad new seasonal flight to Krakow

• EY163 departs Abu Dhabi (AUH) at 02:40 with arrival into Krakow (KRK) at 07:15.
• EY164 departs Krakow (KRK) at 11:05 with arrival into Abu Dhabi (AUH) at 19:00.

Flight frequency of Etihad Airways’ new seasonal flight to Krakow will remain constant at 3 per week throughout the season.

Second Poland Route: Building on Warsaw’s Seasonal Success

EY163 will become, come June 2026, Etihad Airways’ second flight to Poland. The other served destination being the largest city of the country, Warsaw. There are some differences however in these two services:

• Warsaw flights are year round and have a higher frequency
• They also have a larger aircraft serving them, namely a Boeing 787-9 (more on that later)

Etihad’s Warsaw flights only launched in June 2025. Nonetheless, the initial data coming through from bookings and reservations must have convinced Etihad that a second flight to Poland was the way to go.

Route Economics: Seasonal Strategy Behind Krakow Selection

Etihad has been focusing a lot on Europe in the past year or so, announcing and launching numerous flights to the region. This is a further step in this direction in the path to further expanding operations even in 2026.

The choice of launching direct Abu Dhabi to Krakow flights is down to the tourist attracting capabilities of Poland’s royal city.

How can I say that with certainty? Two clear indicators:

• EY163 is a seasonal service
• The aircraft type chosen is among the smallest of the fleet.

Salalah Summer Flights: Seasonal Service to Oman’s Khareef Destination

The underlying reasoning is identical but the second seasonal destination Etihad will be launching in summer 2026 is very different to Krakow. The second of Abu Dhabi seasonal connections is to Salalah, Oman. A much shorter flight to a destination just as fascinating but for totally different reasons.

Salalah Monsoon Season Flights: May-September 2026 Operations

When you picture the Arabic peninsula in your mind, what do you think of? Hot, sandy and dry right? Well Salalah sits in a region of Oman which doesn’t fit into this stereotype all year round.

Every summer monsoons arrive in the region with plentiful rainfall which creates a unique micro habitat with plenty of green along the coast. The rainy season starts in June and goes on until September attracting a tourist every year.

Hoping to tap into the influx of tourists during the Khareef season in Oman Etihad Airways will be launching its new EY687 Abu Dhabi to Salalah flight.

First flight will cover the very short distance from Abu Dhabi to Salalah on May 21st running through the summer months until September 15th 2026.

EY687 to Salalah: Daily Summer Service During Peak Khareef

Looking at Etihad’s new seasonal flight to Salalah it will operate on a variable frequency:

• Twice weekly – Thursday and Sunday from May 21st to June 14th 2026
• Daily – from June 15th through September 15th 2026

By doing so Etihad will be dipping its toes in the water ahead of the busier months to then really cash in when tourist traffic is supposed to spike in June, July and August.

Timings for EY687 Etihad new seasonal flight to Salalah

• EY687 departs Abu Dhabi (AUH) at 08:30 with arrival into Salalah (SLL) at 10:30.
• EY688 departs Salalah (SLL) at 11:05 with arrival into Abu Dhabi (AUH) at 12:50.

Khareef Season Appeal: Why Salalah Works as Summer Destination

Salalah isn’t exactly the most well known tourist destination in the world. However it has a unique charm that draws in tourists. What could make it work as a destination for Etihad is its uniqueness.

The city sits in an extremely unique and privileged position in the Arabian peninsula. Every summer monsoons come to this region making it surprisingly green for being in the middle east. A festival also takes place during this time.

Network Planning: Salalah’s Role in Regional Strategy

Abu Dhabi-Salalah Etihad flights will be a bit different from others in the gulf region. Most flights in the GCC region are focused on business and trade with frequent connections. However, this is somewhat different. Etihad Airways’ new seasonal flight to Salalah is in no way tailored to business travelers. It is an exception in the regional network focusing primarily on tourists connecting via Abu Dhabi.

Aircraft and Service Details for New Seasonal Routes

Interestingly despite very different flight times the routes share the same aircraft family. Both new Etihad flights to Krakow and Salalah will be served by narrow body aircraft with very different cabin configurations.

Fleet Deployment: Aircraft Types for Seasonal Operations

In recent months Etihad Airways has been taking delivery of new Airbus A321LR planes. These come with a true business class cabin and are already being put to good use. The A321LR will be exactly the aircraft of choice for the new Etihad Airways seasonal flight from Abu Dhabi to Krakow.

For the much shorter flight to Salalah the aircraft chosen is on of Etihad’s Airbus A320s. They, as you might have guessed, don’t come with the fancy new interiors.

Cabin Configuration and Service Standards

The Etihad A321LR and the A320 belong to the same aircraft family, however, they are setup with extremely different cabin interiors.

The A321LR configuration for Etihad’s Flights to Krakow

The A321LR, yet to be delivered to Etihad Airways, will feature a very impressive premium heavy 3 class configuration with:

• 2 First Class Seats – in a 1-1 layout
• 14 Business Class Seats – in a 1-1 layout
• 144 Economy Class Seats – in a 3-3 layout

First class is more in name than in reality. The first two seats of the cabin which offer more space are designated as first class. The seat itself is not all that dissimilar to the rest of business class.

All seats in first and business class on the Etihad A321LR offer direct aisle access and recline into flat beds.

The A320 configuration for Etihad’s Flights to Salalah

The configuration of the A320s operating flights to Salalah is much simpler and not as fancy. The aircraft are short haul optimized which boils down to a denser configuration in both business and economy class. These planes feature:

• 8 or 16 Business Class seats in a 2-2 layout
• Between 120 and 168 economy Class seats in a 3-3 layout.

Business class seats are recliners and not flat beds, not that on a short flight like this your could make any use of a flat bed.