Etihad Airways to launch flights from Abu Dhabi to Amsterdam

LAHORE: Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, will launch daily flights between Abu Dhabi and Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. The new EY77 and EY78 services will begin on Wednesday May 15, 2013, and carry the KL code of Dutch national carrier, KLM.  

The daily flights will complement KLM’s current service between Amsterdam and Abu Dhabi which will increase to daily from the Summer and carry Etihad Airways’ EY code, ensuring that the two airlines can offer a combined double daily service. 

James Hogan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Etihad Airways said: “We are delighted that Amsterdam will become a part Etihad Airways’ global network from 15 May. The Dutch capital joins a group of 17 leading European cities that Etihad Airways flies to including Brussels, Dublin, Frankfurt, Geneva, London and Paris. The double daily service between Amsterdam and Abu Dhabi will benefit passengers looking to travel from the Netherlands to Abu Dhabi and beyond to destinations like Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Australia.” 

The codeshare expansion will see Etihad Airways placing its EY code on KLM flights. In return, KLM will place its KL code on Etihad Airways flights to Baghdad, Basra, Calicut, Cochin, Dhaka, Erbil, Hyderabad, Kathmandu, Chennai, Male, Peshawar, Seychelles and Trivandrum. This adds to the current codeshare flights to Colombo, Islamabad, Lahore, Melbourne, and Sydney. 

These new destinations are part of the airline’s 10-year network growth plan which will see Etihad Airways fly to more than 100 destinations with a fleet of more than 150 aircraft by 2020. 

Etihad Airways offers 27 weekly flights to Abu Dhabi from Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad and twice a week from Peshawar. Travellers from Pakistan will have direct flights to Amsterdam via Abu Dhabi, the airline’s home-base.