Etihad Airways is announcing 10 new routes today. While I covered those details in a separate post, in this post I wanted to focus on the single new route to the United States that the Abu Dhabi-based carrier is adding, and it’s not what we were expecting.
In this post:
Etihad’s Abu Dhabi to Atlanta flight launches July 2025
As of July 2, 2025, Etihad will launch a new 4x weekly flight between Abu Dhabi (AUH) and Atlanta (ATL). The flight will operate in both directions on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, with the following schedule:
EY13 Abu Dhabi to Atlanta departing 9:30AM arriving 4:30PM
EY14 Atlanta to Abu Dhabi departing 10:00PM arriving 7:30PM (+1 day)
The 7,609-mile flight is blocked at 15hr westbound and 13hr30min eastbound. Etihad will use a two-cabin Airbus A350-1000 for the route, featuring 371 seats, including 44 business class seats and 327 economy class seats. Etihad’s A350 business class experience is phenomenal, in my opinion.
The new flight is already bookable, directly through etihad.com, or via your preferred online travel agency. Unfortunately as of now I’m not seeing much saver level business class award space (whether booking through Etihad Guest or a partner program), but I’m sure that will change over time.
How Atlanta fits into Etihad’s route network
Atlanta will be Etihad’s fifth destination in the United States, after Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), New York (JFK), and Washington (IAD). Etihad’s last new route to the United States was the Boston service, and that was launched in March 2024, so Atlanta is the first new addition to the United States in well over a year.
Atlanta is of course a fortress hub for Delta. From the Middle East and Gulf region, the airport has Qatar Airways service from Doha (DOH), and Turkish Airlines service from Istanbul (IST). Meanwhile Emirates does not fly to Atlanta, making Atlanta the only US airport that will be served by Etihad and Qatar, but not by Emirates.
A couple of days ago, Etihad released a teaser video about the new routes that it would add. I’m confused, because the video made reference to the Liberty Bell, suggesting the new US route would be Philadelphia. However, Atlanta is the new US destination, and not Philadelphia. So it seems Etihad was throwing us off… or perhaps the clue with the Liberty Bell was simply supposed to be that a new route to the United States is coming?
Anyway, with Etihad now adding Atlanta flights, I can’t help but wonder if this is part of a much bigger shakeup. Are Delta and Etihad finally launching a partnership, possibly at the expense of American’s partnership with Etihad?
Don’t get me wrong, I’d rather Etihad partner with American than Delta (in terms of mileage opportunities), but there’s no denying that Delta needs a partner in the Gulf region, and Etihad seems like the logical partner, given that Etihad is currently a “second class” partner of American, behind Qatar. Delta and Riyadh Air do plan a close partnership, but it will likely be years before that’s meaningful, given that Riyadh Air hasn’t even launched operations.
Anyway, we’ll mark this as “developing” for now, but I’d guess the Atlanta service is the only first part of a bigger announcement. I could be wrong, though.
Bottom line
As of July 2025, Etihad will launch a new 4x weekly flight between Abu Dhabi and Atlanta using Airbus A350s. This isn’t the route addition that we were expecting, so this is quite an interesting development. Now I’m just wondering if there’s going to be more to this…
What do you make of Etihad launching Atlanta flights?
Not sure why people are surprised, ATL is a huge market in and of itself. It makes a lot of sense with little competition they will fill these flights up and with the pre-clearance facility in Abu Dhabi this will be a huge selling point. The cargo will be an added bonus for them. My only surprise is that it is not daily.
This is not very surprising. Etihad is now partnering with Air France-KLM so I’d expect a partnership with DL to be imminent.
Air France also has a partnership with Gol which DL no longer has as of its purchase of equity in Latam and its JV w/ LA.
Remember that the SkyTeam TATL JV includes AF/KL as well as VS. DL and VS have both said they are going to Riyadh but AF/KL has not said they will be part of the RX partnership.
There are some markets that all 4 carriers operate as one...
Air France also has a partnership with Gol which DL no longer has as of its purchase of equity in Latam and its JV w/ LA.
Remember that the SkyTeam TATL JV includes AF/KL as well as VS. DL and VS have both said they are going to Riyadh but AF/KL has not said they will be part of the RX partnership.
There are some markets that all 4 carriers operate as one - such as to NYC and other US destinations and European hubs - while there are other markets beyond the hubs where AF/KL and VS have different strategies.
Etihad also just created a j/v with SkyTeam's China Eastern, and has a partnership with Korean Air, Saudia, and MEA.
There very could become a partnership between DL and EY. I've not said it is impossible.
I have said that DL is focusing on RX.
As I noted elsewhere, if DL develops a relationship with the Saudi carriers and then goes with EY as well - on top of having a partnership with LY which could turn into a JV, DL could go from 0 to head of the pack in the Middle East.
...There very could become a partnership between DL and EY. I've not said it is impossible.
I have said that DL is focusing on RX.
As I noted elsewhere, if DL develops a relationship with the Saudi carriers and then goes with EY as well - on top of having a partnership with LY which could turn into a JV, DL could go from 0 to head of the pack in the Middle East.
I'm not expecting DL will have partnerships with both of the Saudi carriers plus EY (I wouldn't be surprised if the Saudi carrier arrangements require exclusivity in the region) but DL has been known to wait for its competitors to lay out their strategies and then announce DL's strategies which surpass them all.
and the real game changer for the ATL-Middle East carriers will be if DL gets back into India and does at least one and maybe two destinations. It might or might not be possible even with the 35K to do more than DEL but DL certainly knows what it needs to succeed in the India market and has been waiting to have the right aircraft.
If DL starts siphoning off the best premium revenue - and it certainly can given its corporate contracts in Atlanta - it makes the pie much smaller for the ME carriers including TK.
Lucky (or anyone else) - is it still not possible to fly from the US to Asia via Abu Dhabi (or Qatar) using American Airline miles? It never made sense to me that an iterinary like JFK to AUH to BKK or something wasn't doable using AA miles. I would have interest in originating in Atlanta on an Etihad flight using American miles, but I would want to be able to travel either to the Maldives or to Asia after...
I sure hope a partnership is eminent
So happy to see another option to fly to India. Hopefully, will bring down prices as well. QR from Atlanta is always full so Etihad will bring welcome relief.
A Delta partnership would be AWESOME! Pre-clearance in Abu Dhabi makes super-easy connections to 80% of the U.S. population. Etihad should explore that for sure!
Love it!! Been waiting for an alternate to Qatar especially to fly to India. Great news!
Would be very surprised at this point if Emirates wasn’t flying to ATL in the next five years
I have a feeling that Delta may take another push at banning QR and EY from ATL...
DL's complaint was about the ME3 to the US as a whole; there was never anything specific about ATL.
as yolo accurately notes, Atlanta is a huge market and will succeed because of the same principle as Eva at DFW w/ or w/o partnerships w/ the "home carrier"
Eva at DFW: "The route seems easy enough to justify even without partnerships, given how big Dallas is as a market." - now just change it to Etihad and ATL
DL has yet to announce the Asia/ Pacific part of its 2025 expansion beyond SLC-ICN,...
as yolo accurately notes, Atlanta is a huge market and will succeed because of the same principle as Eva at DFW w/ or w/o partnerships w/ the "home carrier"
Eva at DFW: "The route seems easy enough to justify even without partnerships, given how big Dallas is as a market." - now just change it to Etihad and ATL
DL has yet to announce the Asia/ Pacific part of its 2025 expansion beyond SLC-ICN, likely still waiting on a decision on the KE merger but it would be hard to imagine they don't move forward w/ their own Saudi Arabia flights since VS is and there are deeper levels of cooperation between DL and Saudi carriers coming out just about every week - including new codesharing on both sides. DL still has or will have by the summer, more than enough new aircraft to grow its international network beyond what it has currently announced.
Also worth noting that QR (allegedly but almost definitely) does very well at ATL, even running an A350-1000 here.
Even with the AA codeshare, QR publicly floated ATL as one of their first US cities, not DFW, not MIA, but Atlanta.
It’s not allegedly. AviationDB shows mid 90s load factors for the entirety of 2024 on ATL-DOH. While LFs aren’t everything, it’s also pretty clear that QR commands a revenue premium and has drastically lower cost structure.
ATL denizens are starved for non-Delta international expansion, this Etihad route will do great.
QR carries a lot of tourist and VFR traffic, which tends to be lower yielding. As a result their planes tend be on the denser side.
QR **have** to have higher LFs. It would be more concerning if they weren't.
QR has notably higher average fares than almost all SkyTeam itineraries out of ATL for connecting traffic to India (BOM/DEL/HYD/BLR), which is a core market demographic.
As an actually “premium” carrier, Qatar gets a revenue premium due to the global “luxury” branding it has built for itself. As a result, its fares tend to be above the rest of competition. I would be impressed if you could find me a market where QR is consistently...
QR has notably higher average fares than almost all SkyTeam itineraries out of ATL for connecting traffic to India (BOM/DEL/HYD/BLR), which is a core market demographic.
As an actually “premium” carrier, Qatar gets a revenue premium due to the global “luxury” branding it has built for itself. As a result, its fares tend to be above the rest of competition. I would be impressed if you could find me a market where QR is consistently cheaper than everyone else out of ATL.
there is business demand from ATL to India and Asia that can logically flow over the Middle East vs. East Asia but all of the Middle East airlines carry large amounts of low value traffic.
The A350-1000 is just such an economical aircraft to operate that airlines can cover their costs with a relatively small amount of high value traffic and still have plenty of room for low value traffic.
and, all of this will...
there is business demand from ATL to India and Asia that can logically flow over the Middle East vs. East Asia but all of the Middle East airlines carry large amounts of low value traffic.
The A350-1000 is just such an economical aircraft to operate that airlines can cover their costs with a relatively small amount of high value traffic and still have plenty of room for low value traffic.
and, all of this will change when DL enters the ATL to India market nonstop with its own A350-1000 flights.
DL has proven that ATL to anywhere in the world can work because of the massive connections that DL can push through ATL. They just need the economics and range of the A350-1000 to make 17-18 hour flights work. DL is far less interested in adding JFK to India than they are in siphoning off all of the connections, something they can do far better and far cheaper than AA and UA can do via NYC and only from NYC to India.
Not true again @Tim Dunn.
Delta has tried ATL-PVG three times. THREE.
Launched in 2008, axed not even two years later in 2009.
Again tried in June 2011, again canned not even one year later on January 2012.
And third times the charm... NOT. 2018 flown, never brung back since.
When do we get the fourth time Tim?
no surprise that you pick out anecdotes when I specifically was referring to regions.
The entire US-China market has collapsed. I know it would be too much for you to point out that UA doesn't fly to China from anywhere other than the west coast while they did it from multiple hubs in the eastern US in the past.
and China was and still is capacity limited.
none of which changes that there is...
no surprise that you pick out anecdotes when I specifically was referring to regions.
The entire US-China market has collapsed. I know it would be too much for you to point out that UA doesn't fly to China from anywhere other than the west coast while they did it from multiple hubs in the eastern US in the past.
and China was and still is capacity limited.
none of which changes that there is the potential for more US to Middle East traffic and DL clearly realizes that since they are adding RUH at some point as part of their RX partnership and will likely add other cities in the Middle East and S. Asia.
Yes the US China market collapsed in 2012...
Plenty of options to get to BOM/BLR with 1 layover from Atlanta. VS, AF, BA, Lufthansa, TK are all there.
The game changer is for those cities where QR was the only option. Roundtrip economy flights ATL-DOH-COK go upto $3-4k during peak summer and December times. Etihad will help alleviate this and any direct flight DL operates will further this.
If Saudia/Riyadh Air also fly from ATL then that will help too.
As an Atlanta based flyer, I am elated! This is like an early Christmas gift!
We finally have one more 1-layover option to get to COK. QR is the only current one and is so expensive.
Now for Saudia/Riyadh Air to join the fray and Delta to start direct flights to India!
There are rumors that JED-ATL is in the works.
https://aviationa2z.com/index.php/2024/11/17/saudia-may-launch-flights-to-atlanta-in-2025/
https://x.com/rakan_b777/status/1857717205565133177?s=46
It seems weird without ATL connectivity and the fact that Delta will have a Saudi airline agreement. If there’s no onward connectivity form Delta I don’t get this. And given Delta’s marketshare at ATL I don’t get it if there isn’t a partnership. But from Etihad’s perspective, does Delta make sense?
Perhaps because of Delta's megahub status at ATL, but people seem to be ignorant of the fact that the Atlanta MSA is the 6th largest in the US and one of the fastest growing.
Qatar Airways has seen load factors in the mid 90s% all year long on ATL-DOH, so there is simply just enough originating traffic to fill up these planes. Carriers like Etihad/QR can get you basically anywhere in the world with one stop.
Assuming there's no looming Delta partnership, I wonder if there's a cargo contract here.
I forgot about CNN. CNN's HQ is in Atlanta. They also have a sizeable presence iN Abu Dhabi. But with CNN's budget cuts, I can't imagine they're filling a plane. So, there must be some cargo here.
Delta doesn’t need Etihad according to my son.
I'm actually really happy to read this news! It'll add one more option for me to get between Moscow and Atlanta with only 1 stop. Right now Turkish and Qatar are the only two options for 1-stop.
Emirates wont touch ATL due to their spat with DL...
@ Ado Bo -- Why, though? Like, a spat with Delta is exactly why Qatar Airways launched flights to Atlanta. Remember when Akbar Al Baker announced that Qatar Airways would fly to Atlanta to "rub salt in the wound" of Delta?
Not entirely true @Ben.
AAB tried to spin it that way, but QR was (publicly!) looking at ATL even before the spat.
They even run an A350-1000 here, 8 years later after the first flight landed.
Maybe I can finally get some half-decent use from my 1.5m Aeroplan points.
LOL. Don’t count on it.
Lol...do you want to break it to him Jacob, or shall I?
If you're fine flying Y then it may be worth it if you can find availability. Otherwise...the bad news is that J/F on EY is blocked to Aeroplan. One of the countless blocks, or IT issues, system issues, rug-and-pull cases associated with Aeroplan.
While ATL is the hub of all hubs and is Delta's ironclad fortress, it can't be understated how much the Atlanta MSA has grown. It's the 6th largest in the US and growing rapidly. It's natural that Etihad is investing in what is one of the top and fastest growing US originating markets.
In addition, Atlanta similarly has an already massive (and increasing) Indian diaspora, ranking in the top 8, many of whom, will likely...
While ATL is the hub of all hubs and is Delta's ironclad fortress, it can't be understated how much the Atlanta MSA has grown. It's the 6th largest in the US and growing rapidly. It's natural that Etihad is investing in what is one of the top and fastest growing US originating markets.
In addition, Atlanta similarly has an already massive (and increasing) Indian diaspora, ranking in the top 8, many of whom, will likely leverage Etihad as an option to connect to India.
@ yoloswag420 -- You're absolutely right, it's a huge market in and of itself. However, keep in mind that Etihad has historically been really conservative with long haul growth. The airline serves virtually no long haul (wide body) destinations that aren't also served by Emirates. So it's interesting that Emirates hasn't started Atlanta service, as the Gulf carrier that carrier the most passengers. That's why I think there must be more to this.
Maybe they see an opportunity to fly to a city than Emirates will likely never fly to? ; )
Perhaps, but 4x weekly is that conservative growth rather than dailies.
QR load factor data shows that in May QR had 97.5% (and purportedly 100% LF from ATL to DOH), and 95% both ways in June.
The local market is simply just that massive and ME3/TK can practically fly you anywhere in the world.
Makes it easier for my carpetbagger friends (I live in Michigan & fly AUH-ORD-GRR) who moved to ATL
All ten flights are now public:
Atlanta
Algiers
Tunis
Chiang Mai
Krabi
Hanoi
Phnom Penh
Medan
Hong Kong
Taipei
Atlanta is an A50-1000.
Hong Kong and Taipei are 787-9s.
All the rest are A321.
Could turn out to be an interesting day here in the milesverse.
Also interesting - a few of the farther destinations in East Asia are pushing the limits of the A321ceo if they’re consistently operating with high passenger loads. With only 6 A321neo in their fleet so far I’m curious what their delivery timeline is for those jets compared when these flights’ first get loaded for sale.
As we get drilled into our heads a few times a week here, Airbus is reasonably close to delivering their...
Also interesting - a few of the farther destinations in East Asia are pushing the limits of the A321ceo if they’re consistently operating with high passenger loads. With only 6 A321neo in their fleet so far I’m curious what their delivery timeline is for those jets compared when these flights’ first get loaded for sale.
As we get drilled into our heads a few times a week here, Airbus is reasonably close to delivering their planes on time.
This will also make EY the only Gulf carrier to serve 3 airports in Thailand.
Several of these routes literally don't launch for a full year, so they've got time. Better just hope that Airbus doesn't have any cause to fall back on delivery schedule.