Etihad Airways, the second largest airline in the UAE behind of course Emirates, is back into an expansionist mood. The airline has laid low for some time, particularly after 2020 since when it has been restructuring its workforce and fleet. It seems the airline is now ready to take a second go on expanding aggressively its destination network in 2025 as it announces 10 new routes in one go.
Etihad Airways 10 New Routes For 2025
In its first years Etihad Airways was quite the aggressive new kid on the block. The Abu Dhabi based airline was looking to make a name for itself and cut out a fair market share. However, due to some poor investments and an overoptimistic view the strategy proved to be unsustainable for the carrier. Thereafter the airline opted for a more prudent approach in the quest to find a sustainable business model. That seems to finally have been found looking at the most recent financial results.
Now, the airline seems ready to grow a little more aggressively again. It has just announced it will be expanding its destination network with 10 new routes in 2025. Let me explain why this times it looks to make much more sense than before.
The new destinations have been carefully chosen. The intent seems quite clear, try to offer as many onward connection options to popular destinations to traffic originating in Europe or traveling in the opposite direction.
The new Etihad Airways destination list for 2025 features:
- Algers – starting November 7th 2025 – on Airbus A321LR
- Atlanta – starting July 2nd 2025 – on Airbus A350
- Chiang Mai – starting November 4 2025 – on Airbus A321LR
- Hanoi – starting November 3 2025 – on Airbus A321LR
- Hong Kong – starting November 4th 2025 – on Boeing 787
- Krabi – starting October 9th 2025 – on Airbus A321LR
- Medan – starting October 3 2025 – on Airbus A321LR
- Phnom Penh – starting October 4th 2025 – on Airbus A321LR
- Taipei – starting September 8th 2025 – on Boeing 787
- Tunis – starting November 1st 2025 – on Airbus A321LR
The exceptions to what I stated above are Hong Kong, Atlanta, Algers, and Tunis. The first two destinations are clearly business oriented while the former two are mainly focusing on traffic originating in the Middle East.
| Flight | From | To | Departure | Arrival | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EY | Abu Dhabi (AUH) | Tunis (TUN) | 02:50 | 06:50 | 3x Weekly |
| EY | Tunis (TUN) | Abu Dhabi (AUH) | 10:20 | 19:10 | 3x Weekly |
| Flight | From | To | Departure | Arrival | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EY | Abu Dhabi (AUH) | Chiang Mai (CNX) | 21:10 | 05:55 | 4x Weekly |
| EY | Chiang Mai (CNX) | Abu Dhabi (AUH) | 08:45 | 13:00 | 4x Weekly |
| Flight | From | To | Departure | Arrival | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EY | Abu Dhabi (AUH) | Hanoi (HAN) | 08:50 | 18:10 | Daily |
| EY | Hanoi (HAN) | Abu Dhabi (AUH) | 19:25 | 00:30 | Daily |
| Flight | From | To | Departure | Arrival | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EY | Abu Dhabi (AUH) | Hong Kong (HKG) | 21:45 | 08:40 | 5x weekly |
| EY | Hong Kong (HKG) | Abu Dhabi (AUH) | 19:25 | 00:15 | 5x weekly |
| Flight | From | To | Departure | Arrival | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EY | Abu Dhabi (AUH) | Algers (ALG) | 02:50 | 07:40 | 4x weekly |
| EY | Algers (ALG) | Abu Dhabi (AUH) | 09:40 | 19:10 | 4x weekly |
| Flight | From | To | Departure | Arrival | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EY | Abu Dhabi (AUH) | Atlanta (ATL) | 09:30 | 16:30 | 4x weekly |
| EY | Atlanta (ATL) | Abu Dhabi (AUH) | 22:00 | 19:30 | 4x weekly |
| Flight | From | To | Departure | Arrival | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EY | Abu Dhabi (AUH) | Taipei (TPE) | 21:45 | 09:50 | Daily |
| EY | Taipei (TPE) | Abu Dhabi (AUH) | 19:35 | 00:15 | Daily |
| Flight | From | To | Departure | Arrival | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EY | Abu Dhabi (AUH) | Medan (KNO) | 21:10 | 07:10 | 3x weekly |
| EY | Medan (KNO) | Abu Dhabi (AUH) | 09:05 | 13:00 | 3x weekly |
| Flight | From | To | Departure | Frequency | Arrival |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EY | Abu Dhabi (AUH) | Phnom Penh (PNH) | 21:10 | 5x weekly | 07:20 |
| EY | Phnom Penh (PNH) | Abu Dhabi (AUH) | 08:40 | 5x weekly | 13:00 |
| Flight | From | To | Departure | Frequency | Arrival |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EY | Abu Dhabi (AUH) | Krabi (KBV) | 08:50 | 18:40 | Daily |
| EY | Krabi (KBV) | Abu Dhabi (AUH) | 20:40 | 00:30 | Daily |
Many Airbus A321neo Flying the New Etihad Routes
What is fascinating is how Etihad Airways is embracing more and more narrow body planes in its fleet and operations. The new routes the airline is looking to launch in 2025 are no exception. This is unlike fellow UAE-based airline Emirates which doesn’t use any single-aisle plane for its flights.
Among the ten new Etihad routes for 2025 seven will be operated using the Airbus A321neo. Specifically the airline will be deploying its A321LRs which allow to fly long range services while enjoying the low costs and risks of a smaller plane. What I mean by risk is that it is much easier to fill an A321 than it is a 777, 787 let alone an A380, therefore losses in case of low load factors are mitigated.
Etihad currently owns and operates a fleet of 6 Airbus A321neo with orders for further 20 of the type. It has configured these planes with:
- 8 Business Class seats
- 215 Economy Class seats
It is likely that with new A321LR arrivals the airline will announce and launch new services just as those I covered in this post.