We know that Etihad Airways is looking at expanding significantly, as part of the carrier’s Journey 2030 plan. By the start of the next decade, the airline hopes to nearly double its fleet and number of destinations, so that’s a pretty lofty goal. What’s a bit surprising to me is how much of this growth is imminent.
In this post:
Etihad has a big route announcement Monday
Etihad Airways has revealed that it will announce 10 new routes on Monday, November 25, 2025, which will be the carrier’s single biggest route announcement ever. Currently, Etihad sells tickets to 83 destinations, so once these new routes are put on sale, that number will increase to 93 destinations.
Here’s how Etihad CEO Antonoaldo Neves describes this development:
“We’re almost ready to announce the new destinations which will excite and delight our customers. We have already unveiled three new destinations for 2025 – Prague, Warsaw and Al Alamein, but now we are taking it to another level. Etihad is accelerating its growth strategy with an impressive announcement of 10 new destinations on a single day.”
“This bold move highlights the airline’s commitment to delivering an outstanding customer experience, marked by authentic Emirati hospitality and convenient travel options. We are dedicated to meeting our guests’ needs by offering the destinations they desire, at the times and frequencies that best suit them.”
That’s only the start, though. The expectation is that in early 2025, the airline will announce service to another 20 destinations, meaning Etihad will add service to around 30 destinations in a pretty short period of time. With this, Etihad expects that at some point in 2025, it’ll be bigger than it was in 2017 (after shrinking massively).
I’m curious how exactly Etihad will fuel this expansion. Will all the routes announced actually be launched within a year, or will the airline just announce certain destinations that it intends to serve a few years down the road?
Yes, the Abu Dhabi-based carrier has lots of planes on order, but there are constraints right now when it comes to aircraft deliveries, so it seems unlikely that the airline would be able to add this number of routes, without cutting some existing frequencies on other routes.
Etihad is expected to take delivery of its first Airbus A321LR in 2025, which is an exciting addition to the fleet, as it will be the carrier’s first narrow body aircraft with flat beds. However, those planes will join the company’s fleet gradually. Up until now, Etihad has only used narrow body aircraft for regional routes.
We know Etihad plans to use these planes for secondary cities in Europe and Asia, so those should fuel some interesting growth.
Can you guess Etihad’s 10 new routes?
I love when airlines tease route announcements, and that’s exactly what Etihad has done. The airline has uploaded a roughly 50-second clip to its social media channels, which reportedly contains clues about all the destinations.
I’d love to hear what others think. Here are a few observations and thoughts (both that I noticed, and based on what others have pointed out — special shout out to Abdulla and Andrew), in chronological order in the video:
- The very beginning of the video shows a coffee cup with three crowns, which is Sweden’s national emblem, so I suspect there’s a new route to Stockholm
- The first scene shows a book in the bottom left corner with the Liberty Bell, suggesting flights to Philadelphia
- The Dragon Dancer book suggests that there will be a new mainland China route; Etihad currently flies to Beijing and Shanghai, so could the airline add flights to Chengdu to Guangzhou or…?
- In the art scene, Taipei 101 is featured in a painting, suggesting service to Taipei
- In the spa scene, there’s a book that says “White City,” with a picture of a major landmark of Helsinki, so I suspect that’s also a new destination
- Also in the spa scene, there’s a book with a picture of the Elbphilharmonie, suggesting flights to Hamburg
- The Fragrant Harbour thing in the taxi suggests a return to Hong Kong
- The spa scene also has “khmer spa” written on a plate, suggesting a route to Cambodia, so could Etihad fly to Siem Reap?
- In the taxi scene, there’s also a “City of Kings” sticker, and both Lima and Krakow are sometimes called that; I suspect another route to Poland is most likely, given that it would make sense for the A321LR, and also given that Lima is 9,100+ miles from Abu Dhabi
- In the party scene, there’s a sticker about Vietnam’s Golden Bridge, suggesting a new route there… could the airline fly to Da Nang, or…?
- In the party scene, someone is wearing a Carthage t-shirt, suggesting service to Tunis
Frankly if the above is on the right track, I’m shocked by the amount of long haul expansion here. I figured most of the new routes would be short haul, given that Etihad isn’t taking delivery of that many new planes imminently. But instead they’re almost entirely medium or long haul. Wow.
It seems Etihad is headed to Philadelphia
As you can see above, it seems that Etihad is likely headed to Philadelphia as its next US destination. Several weeks back, Edward Russell noted how Etihad’s Chief Revenue and Commercial Officer stated that we’re “going to hear at least one new US destination very, very soon.”
When asked if it was one of the three cities that Etihad has cut in recent years but hasn’t returned to, he didn’t comment, but said that the planned destination is “not a usual suspect.” That suggested to me that it’s unlikely the airline would resume service to Dallas (DFW), Los Angeles (LAX), or San Francisco (SFO).
For context, Etihad’s current US destinations include Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), New York (JFK), and Washington (IAD). That Boston service is a recent addition.
Given those parameters, I’m not surprised to see Philadelphia as the newest addition. It has proximity to many big markets, and is also an American hub, and American and Etihad partner. This also suggests to me that the American and Etihad partnership is here to stay, as I’ve been thinking for a long time that Delta and Etihad sure could use one another.
Bottom line
Etihad plans to announce 10 new routes on November 25, 2024, and then announce around 20 more new routes in early 2025. This is a huge expansion, and will boost the carrier’s number of destinations massively. I’m really curious about the details here, both in terms of how the airline will make this growth happen, and also what the destinations will be.
Can anyone guess Etihad’s 10 new destinations based on the video?
Also keep in mind for PHL...despite EY not being a OW member, they do partner heavily with AA and can benefit from the PHL hub.
"Yes, the Abu Dhabi-based carrier has lots of planes on order, but there are constraints right now when it comes to aircraft deliveries, so it seems unlikely that the airline would be able to add this number of routes, without cutting some existing frequencies on other routes."
Thank you for bringing up the practical constraints of the potential new routes. Often people get caught up in the excitement of a new route while not considering...
"Yes, the Abu Dhabi-based carrier has lots of planes on order, but there are constraints right now when it comes to aircraft deliveries, so it seems unlikely that the airline would be able to add this number of routes, without cutting some existing frequencies on other routes."
Thank you for bringing up the practical constraints of the potential new routes. Often people get caught up in the excitement of a new route while not considering that something else they like may have to be cut to make the new routes happen.
Another publicity stunt from Ivander Sebastian copied straight from United's playbook
At 0:08 there's a painting of the lantern festival in Chiang Mai.
With the AA partnership, I am hoping this will translate to improved redemption on EY using AAdvantage miles.
I could see an Etihad + Starlux partnership in the making.
If 'Dragon Dance' is a hint, then the city should be Xi'an. The dragon dance was first mentioned in writing during the Han Dynasty, which had Chang'an (current day Xi'an) as capital for most of its existence.
The art scene also has a prominent picture of what seems to be a lampoon festival, which might suggest Cebu, Philippines, for example (in addition to Manila where they already fly).
Lima was found as Ciudad...
If 'Dragon Dance' is a hint, then the city should be Xi'an. The dragon dance was first mentioned in writing during the Han Dynasty, which had Chang'an (current day Xi'an) as capital for most of its existence.
The art scene also has a prominent picture of what seems to be a lampoon festival, which might suggest Cebu, Philippines, for example (in addition to Manila where they already fly).
Lima was found as Ciudad de los Reyes, literally 'City of Kings', and City of Kings that's perfectly feasible with their upcoming A350-1000. They've already flown to Bogota and Sao Paulo, so South America isn't off the charts.
Andaman Sea in a spa might only suggest Phuket ("happy ending, misterrr!") , it's just that they already fly there. So in that case Yangon (Rangoon) in Myanmar might be an option, perhaps. That would be really nice and surprising!
I'm also seeing a Helsinki cathedral there (Helsinki) not the Saint Sava (which would be Belgrade), a Taipei 101 (Taipei), a liberty bell (Philadelphia), the Swedish national symbol (tre kronor) on a cup (Stockholm), fragrant harbour (Hong Kong), a sombrero (Mexico City or Cancun?), Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg), Khmer Spa (Siem Reap, as Phnom Penh has been terminated), Da Nang(?) in Viet Nam based on the sticker of the bridge,'Carthago' would be Tunis. And then there's still lots of things prominently pictured in the clip which don't make sense (yet). And now the main issue is that we get to 10+ results.... :)
Honestly, I think they'll add a few extra long hauls for their new A350s and a few European ones and closer regional ones for their new A321s, so it's not surprising that the anticipated list mostly consists of medium to long haul.
As others have mentioned, the Golden Bridge sticker does look like a nod towards Da Nang. Another detail though that I haven't seen mentioned, is the letters on the sticker looks like "DADDDDDD", or possibly the last characters being an O or a 0. If the last characters are indeed a D, it would further point towards Da Nang since their IATA code is DAD.
And I hope it is indeed Da Nang, as it...
As others have mentioned, the Golden Bridge sticker does look like a nod towards Da Nang. Another detail though that I haven't seen mentioned, is the letters on the sticker looks like "DADDDDDD", or possibly the last characters being an O or a 0. If the last characters are indeed a D, it would further point towards Da Nang since their IATA code is DAD.
And I hope it is indeed Da Nang, as it is such a lovely city and one of the fastest growing in Southeast Asia. While it's seen such a huge increase in tourism from other countries in the region recently, it's still off the beaten path for a lot of Westerners. Hopefully, if this new route does launch, it further helps opening up Da Nang to the world.
And on a personal note, I do hope PHL does get EY. It was disappointing to see QR give their frequency over to AA, so having another ME3 carrier in the mix would be hugely welcomed.
in the opening scene, the coffee mug on the bottom right shows the national emblem of Sweden (tre kronor) - Stockholm?
@Ben, do you have any take on why none of the ME3 fly to DTW? I’d think with large population from ME and Indian Subcontinent, they wouldn’t have any issue filling up their planes.
there are other cities that have even larger populations with those backgrounds.
And the current airlines that fly there - Turkish, LH, AF, DL, Royal Jordanian - provide great service to those populations, especially with respect to where those people are going. As with most places, the biggest destinations are Delhi, Mumbai, Dhaka, Karachi, Hyderabad in the subcontinent. Air France and Royal Jordanian serve those goign to the Levant really well. These airlines above...
there are other cities that have even larger populations with those backgrounds.
And the current airlines that fly there - Turkish, LH, AF, DL, Royal Jordanian - provide great service to those populations, especially with respect to where those people are going. As with most places, the biggest destinations are Delhi, Mumbai, Dhaka, Karachi, Hyderabad in the subcontinent. Air France and Royal Jordanian serve those goign to the Levant really well. These airlines above fly to all of those places and really serve that population well. Perhaps some day the ME3 will go there. Perhaps.
Because DTW's ethnic diaspora (and therefore VFR traffic) is mostly to the Levant area (Lebanon, Jordan, Israel/WestBank, etc)..... all of which is a backtrack for the ME3, but not as much of one for European carriers.
Hence CDG, AMS, IST, AMM doing well with that kind of flow traffic ex-DTW.
The Middle East is an area that covers about as much land mass as mainland USA. So then one has to look closer to find out where these people actually originate from. Detroit mainly has people from the Levant, which is the north west of the Middle East, while the ME3 are located in the south east. Royal Jordanian or Turkish makes perfect sense here, otherwise it's a bit like asking why an American carrier...
The Middle East is an area that covers about as much land mass as mainland USA. So then one has to look closer to find out where these people actually originate from. Detroit mainly has people from the Levant, which is the north west of the Middle East, while the ME3 are located in the south east. Royal Jordanian or Turkish makes perfect sense here, otherwise it's a bit like asking why an American carrier doesn't fly to Europe from San Francisco because there's a good diaspora market for them in Boston. It just doesn't make sense.
West Coast please. It still has its lounge at LAX.
No Virgin Atlantic are currently refurbishing it to become a new Clubhouse.
Dang it! No Atlanta eh!
any chance that they join oneworld or partner closer with AA? Can QR block this? Maybe they can with OW but not with AA.
My money is on a SkyTeam alliance, they will probably engage in JV’s first.
more than the specific cities, the bigger theme is that Etihad sees a need to grow significantly. It is vastly overshadowed by EK, QR and TK (which effectively acts as an ME3 airline).
The bigger significance is that Etihad seems to be focusing on oneworld hubs which raises the question of how well AA will play with QR and Etihad or if AA will go for a JV with Etihad; AA has the potential to...
more than the specific cities, the bigger theme is that Etihad sees a need to grow significantly. It is vastly overshadowed by EK, QR and TK (which effectively acts as an ME3 airline).
The bigger significance is that Etihad seems to be focusing on oneworld hubs which raises the question of how well AA will play with QR and Etihad or if AA will go for a JV with Etihad; AA has the potential to be far more valuable to Etihad than it is to QR or UA is to EK.
As much as a lot of people expected DL to align with Etihad, I expect there are far larger financial and growth upsides for DL with Riyadh and Saudia.
Alignment of the US 3 with Middle East carriers will be an industry theme of the next 5 years. and it will be interesting to see how TK fares in all of this.
Several one world hubs.
As an ATL flyer, I’m so disappointed :(
For the Chinese City part, Etihad technically still "flies" to "Canton“（AKA Guangzhou, we Cantonese don't like the name Guangzhou) but on this Feb they suddenly "Suspended" this route with a very short 2-3 weeks notice, my money is on that they are resuming this route and count that as a new route?
They should fly to Berlin instead of Hamburg.
Hamburg is where the a321 delivers from in Europe so it’s kinda smart to do this route. There’s probably 321 sims there, too so maybe they have a training setup that makes this route make sense
No, there are probably A321 sims in Hamburg. But I am highly skeptical that this has anything to do with this route. Etihad has been flying A320 family aircraft for years, so they have sufficiently trained pilots and to my knowledge have their own flight simulators at Etihad flight academy. Maybe even more than in Hamburg.
In addition even if their pilots would complete training in Hamburg, this would hardly justify a route. The...
No, there are probably A321 sims in Hamburg. But I am highly skeptical that this has anything to do with this route. Etihad has been flying A320 family aircraft for years, so they have sufficiently trained pilots and to my knowledge have their own flight simulators at Etihad flight academy. Maybe even more than in Hamburg.
In addition even if their pilots would complete training in Hamburg, this would hardly justify a route. The delivery of new planes also does not require so much personell that an airline would start a route to Hamburg.
Etihad will use a B787-9 for this route so this is also clearly not a familirization route where they would want to make feedback sessions with Airbus after each flight.
Why would they use a 789 when the 321 can fly it? There’s no way a 789 turns a profit on this route.
There is a bilateral treaty between the VAE and Germany that allows VAE carriers to serve three cities in Germany. Both Emirates and Etihad fly to Frankfurt, Munich and Dusseldorf. In addition there is a special agreement that allows Emirates and Etihad to serve Hamburg as a fourth city. This agreement is only valid for Hamburg and does not allow them to instead serve Berlin.
This is a really well done video by Etihad. I am impressed with how much effort had gone into this by their management team. Only 3 days until the big reveal of the 10 destinations.
The ‘something big is coming’ had what looks like a Northwest Western Australian beach in the background (going on the red earth), so maybe a return to PER is on the cards?
That would be good to see. Another possibillity is ADL. QR has been trying to get a (proper) 2nd daily service from there but has been obstructed by the petulant Transport Minister who has her own personal jihad against QR.
Seems Etihad would have better luck!
I don't think there are any restrictions on QR flying to ADL. They were able to use ADL as the 'final' destination of a DOH-MEL-ADL route as a back-door way to add another MEL frequency.
Politics aside Glenn, I'm afraid you are quite incorrect. There are no capacity limits on Qatar Airways operating into Adelaide. If they can arrange the slots they can fly there 100 times a day for all the law is concerned. The existing bilateral agreement only limits them to 28 flights per week into the major gateways (defined as Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth), and up to 7 additional flights per week as part of the...
Politics aside Glenn, I'm afraid you are quite incorrect. There are no capacity limits on Qatar Airways operating into Adelaide. If they can arrange the slots they can fly there 100 times a day for all the law is concerned. The existing bilateral agreement only limits them to 28 flights per week into the major gateways (defined as Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth), and up to 7 additional flights per week as part of the "Regional Package" which allows them to fly up to 7 extra flights a week through any major gateway so long as it continues onto another airport, which is what the 2nd daily Adelaide via Melbourne is operating under.
Maybe Aeroplan will finally stop blocking Etigad awards (and ANA, and TG, and Air China, and OZ, and multiple others)
Stockholm would have been nice.
Helsinki is nicer :D
But their network is not very large so the value is limited for now. Definitely worth a try, though, what with Finnair destroying their Adios program.
Very opening in the bottom right hand corner is a mug with three crowns on a blue background?
There is your Stockholm
Still think it may be launched. The woman DJing near the end had a Scandinavian accent, could that be a possible hint?
2 of the coffee cups in the first scene has 3 crowns on them ("Tre Kronor" in Swedish - the national emblem of Sweden). Could very well be Stockholm!
Given they have just wet leased one of my ETIHAD flights to wamos and I've heard there are others , not sure where the planes are coming from !!
Da Nang in Vietnam based on the sticker on the laptop?
well spotted!
"Philadelphia (PHL) can’t be ruled out"
Seems to be exactly that, since they have the Liberty Bell heavily featured in the lower left background at 0:03.
TPE Taipei 101 is featured
HKG Fragrant Harbor book
China Dragon Dancer book
MEX Sombrero in the back of the taxi
Belgrade or Helsinki (cathedral white city)
Hamburg (elbphilharmonie card)
DJ either MIA or Berlin, I'd say Miami :-)
California coast.... last scene. Return to LAX. Could be SFO.
My Guesses:
1) The dragon dancer book title - somewhere in China
2) Taipei 101 Painting - Taiwan
3) Spa scene, calendar & "Andaman sea" in 1st scene - Sumatra, Indonesia
4) Spa scene, "white city" & cathedral - Helsinki
5) Spa scene, "khmer spa" on plate - Cambodia
6) Spa scene, photo of elbphilharmonie - Hamburg
7) "city of kings" - Lima, peru
8) "Fragrant harbor" -...
My Guesses:
1) The dragon dancer book title - somewhere in China
2) Taipei 101 Painting - Taiwan
3) Spa scene, calendar & "Andaman sea" in 1st scene - Sumatra, Indonesia
4) Spa scene, "white city" & cathedral - Helsinki
5) Spa scene, "khmer spa" on plate - Cambodia
6) Spa scene, photo of elbphilharmonie - Hamburg
7) "city of kings" - Lima, peru
8) "Fragrant harbor" - Hong Kong
9) Party scene, "Carthage" on shirt - Tunis
10) Golden bridge sticker on laptop - Vietnam
Doesn't look like any US routes announced this time!
For #3, I'm guessing Phuket if it's the Andaman Sea.
Also, with the sombrero in the back of the taxi, I'd guess Mexico City is one of them.
It’s Philly. The Liberty Bell is bottom left of frame on the bookcase behind the guy at :03-:05. Huge get for PHL!
The “Something BIG is coming” ad posted at the top of the article appears to be a picture of Roebuck Bay, in Western Australia. Potentially PER is one of the ten? Just unsure how that fits in to any of the clues. Guess we don’t have long to wait to find out.
In the paint workshop, there's a painting of the Taipei 101 tower in the background. Would be cool to see a 2nd gulf carrier land in Taiwan! Can't quite figure out the rest of them though...
On a further watch through, a few other maybes
1. Chiang Mai, looks like a painting of the lantern festival at 0.08
2. Taipei, as above at 0.14
3. Helsinki, the 'White City' poster at 0.16
4. Hong Kong, 'Fragrant Harbour' at 0.26
5. Tunis, 'Carthage' on the back of the t-shirt at 0.44
I now also see what people are talking about with the 'City of Kings' sticker at 0.27 which would absolutely point to Lima, but I am just so taken aback by that as a route that I'm scrambling to justify another possible meaning in my head. Etihad surely aren't about to launch flights to Peru are they?? That would be wild.
I think it is possible that they will fly to Lima, with a stopover in São Paulo, where they already flew until a few years ago.
That would certainly be interesting! Though I feel that if they were to route it via GRU there'd be a clue in there for that destination in its own right. I wonder if a fifth freedom through an existing European port might be more likely? At a cursory glance to existing EY destinations in Europe that don't have a nonstop Lima connection are Barcelona and London, both of which may be able to sustain a...
That would certainly be interesting! Though I feel that if they were to route it via GRU there'd be a clue in there for that destination in its own right. I wonder if a fifth freedom through an existing European port might be more likely? At a cursory glance to existing EY destinations in Europe that don't have a nonstop Lima connection are Barcelona and London, both of which may be able to sustain a nonstop beefed up by some through traffic to AUH. I guess we'll find out in about 24 hours...