Etihad Airways has just announced its newest long haul destination. It’s in North America, and it’s not a market I was expecting to see the airline announce service to…
In this post:
Etihad’s Abu Dhabi to Calgary route launches November 2026
As of November 3, 2026, Etihad will launch a new 4x flight between Abu Dhabi (AUH), United Arab Emirates, and Calgary (YYC), Canada, operating with the following schedule:
EY29 Abu Dhabi to Calgary departing 8:45AM arriving 12:20PM
EY30 Calgary to Abu Dhabi departing 6:05PM arriving 7:00PM (+1 day)
The route will operate 4x weekly in both directions, on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. The 7,184-mile flight is blocked at 14hr35min westbound and 13hr55min eastbound. Side note — at least in summer, this route should have some pretty spectacular views over the Arctic Circle, give or take. 
Etihad will use a two-cabin Boeing 787-9 for the route, including 28 business class seats and 262 economy class seats. The new flight is already bookable, directly through etihad.com, or via your preferred online travel agency.
Here’s how Etihad CEO Antonoaldo Neves describes this service:
“The launch of our Abu Dhabi–Calgary service is both a significant and historic step in Etihad’s global expansion. By creating the only nonstop link between the Middle East and Western Canada, we are opening new opportunities for trade, tourism and investment, while giving travellers direct access to two distinctive and globally important destinations.”
“This is an exciting announcement for us, bringing together two remarkable places. For Canadian travellers, it opens direct access to Abu Dhabi’s rich culture and year-round experiences, while guests from the UAE and across our network gain seamless access to Calgary and the natural beauty of Western Canada. It is a route designed to stimulate two-way tourism and deepen ties between our regions.”
How Calgary fits into Etihad’s route network
Calgary will be Etihad’s eighth destination in North America, after Atlanta (ATL), Boston (BOS), Charlotte (CLT), Chicago (ORD), New York (JFK), Toronto (YYZ), and Washington (IAD). Service to Atlanta, Boston, and Charlotte, are all recent additions.
Etihad is in an interesting position. The airline is obviously way smaller than Gulf rivals Emirates and Qatar, though it’s growing quickly, and the company’s executives insist that this growth is profitable and sustainable (after the airline previously tried to grow, lost a ton of money, and then shrunk).
So along those lines, we’ve seen Etihad add some unconventional long haul routes. Etihad hasn’t returned to destinations like Dallas (DFW), Los Angeles (LAX), or San Francisco (SFO), all of which are markets the airline used to serve (unprofitably), and which are served by competitors. For that matter, the airline isn’t even going to fly to Vancouver (YVR), which you’d think would be the logical airport to serve in Western Canada, if you have the bilateral Canada & UAE slots to operate that service.
I have to imagine that an announcement of some sort of a WestJet partnership is imminent, given the size of the carrier’s hub in Calgary. This route can only make sense with connectivity, especially on a year-round basis.
Etihad’s current growth situation is incredibly interesting. I’m not sure where this strategy falls on the scale of “Etihad management is playing 4D chess” to “what on earth are they doing.” Either way, I certainly commend the airline for adding some creative routes, rather than simply replicating what other airlines are doing.
Etihad’s previous newest North America destination to be announced was Charlotte, and that’s also an airport not served by the other Gulf carriers.
Bottom line
As of November 2026, Etihad will launch 4x weekly flights between Abu Dhabi and Calgary with Boeing 787s. This will be Etihad’s second destination in Canada, after Toronto. I can’t say that this route was on my radar, but it’s certainly an interesting one.
What do you make of Etihad launching Calgary flights?
One word: OIL.
Calgary is the heart of Canada's petroleum industry.
This is primarily about Westjet connectivity, not Fairmonts and Rockies, or bullet trains to Edmonton. I'd love to actually learn what kind of loads they're able to achieve a year from launch and how much of it is connecting to non-Alberta airports. YYC has been working furiously, since the pandemic, to convince the world that there's some there there. For those of us who've been there mid-October and experienced -15°c, YYC is a special place,...
This is primarily about Westjet connectivity, not Fairmonts and Rockies, or bullet trains to Edmonton. I'd love to actually learn what kind of loads they're able to achieve a year from launch and how much of it is connecting to non-Alberta airports. YYC has been working furiously, since the pandemic, to convince the world that there's some there there. For those of us who've been there mid-October and experienced -15°c, YYC is a special place, with a unique level of appeal unlike any other place.
Still, Westjet has lots of capacity in Western Canada, USA and Mexico/Caribbean and even ET is not immune to begging and subsidies. Remember, while speculating about the strategy, that Westjet significantly reduced their Eastern Canada services very recently, for what it's worth.
This makes perfect sense and I’m sure a WestJet partnership is soon to be announced which makes this route make even more sense. WestJet dominates western Canada and the people who would have connected to Toronto to catch a Etihad flight can now bypass Toronto altogether and have a much shorter connection time
Service to Calgary, yet nothing to the west coast? No SFO? LAX? SEA? All are bigger markets than Calgary. What about serving some market in Texas? 35 million potential customers. But no, we prefer places like Charlotte and Calgary (a market the size of Milwaukee). I'm sorry but it makes no sense.
They have tried those places on the west coast and they didn't do well due to competition. These new destinations are doing well like ATL or BOS.
Calgary is bigger than Milwaukee (and Chicago is nearby, so that likely inflates things there.) Charlotte is still really odd to me.
Doesn't make sense at first but assuming there is connecting traffic from WestJet, it starts to make more. Calgary and Edmonton have pretty substantial South Asian populations. As EK winds down SEA demoting the 77W to a 77L I am holding off for an EK A380 to YVR, but who knows
I move that WestJet join SkyTeam.
I have a feeling that both of these carriers joining SkyTeam is imminent. Especially when Riyadh Air is still up in the air right now.
It's gonna happen this year am sure.
A direct result of Canada increasing getting rid of their restrictions and increasing flight capacity from the UAE, there will be more to follow.
More deals with UAE carriers, yes. Not sure it follows that there will be "more to follow" with Westjet involved. Westjet just discontinued numerous services to Eastern Canada so for Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Halifax, they have nothing to offer a Middle East carrier. ET is smart to stay out of alliances, if this is how they want to play. AC in eastern Canada, Westjet (soon in Skyteam probably) in the west.
The government had been subsidizing AC for over a decade now by restricting competition. And result is Canadians are stuck with a horrible airline. Good to see this change. All the new airlines at YYZ, and increased ME3 presence is very welcomed.
Banff national park and a couple of wonderful Fairmonts are only 90 minutes from Calgary…most beautiful part of the Rockies I’ve ever seen…if you ever visit there, Ben, you’ll understand it. Just like after you went to Big Sur.
Huge fan of Moraine Lake; I'd argue the only decent Fairmonts are in Canada. The ones I've tried elsewhere were not-so-great.
Obviously this is about transit traffic. But amazing for YYC. With the growth of Westjet and now this, looks like AC will be run out of town for anything but domestic routes (which is a very good thing!)
It is not yet available to book, i just checked the Etihad website :(
As a Calgarian i'm happy to welcome another route of this magnitude. Westjet partnership will definitely be announced and should take capacity from Vancouver, Edmonton, Saskatchewan and funnel it through Calgary for onwards connections to Africa, ME and Subcontinent. Will put pressure on AC in the west!
There are also a bunch of UAE investments (from Mubadala, etc.) in Calgary and Alberta more generally, which may be driving an increase in premium traffic between the cities.
We shale see how well this route does, but YYC has 100+ non-stop destinations (yes many are regional routes), but with this large hub it could make sense. ET hasn't returned to SFO, so you wonder if they're doing the Walmart approach - go to the more peripheral cities that likely don't have a lot of O&D to Asia/Mideast and just tap into the hub traffic. I see this as the reason why they went to CLT.
"We shale see..." -- I see what you did there. ;-)
This is a great new addition and excellent routing choice. The Alberta super-corridor is on the rise, with not only Calgary region but also the capital Edmonton being within easy access. There are even plans to build a world-class bullet train between the two regional centers. The rose province is in fact the only to have two cities of greater than one million inhabitants.
Unconventional add for sure but it makes sense. Their new strategy is to avoid competitive markets like LAX, SFO & DFW (JFK, ORD, etc being big enough markets to sustain against the competition)
This also provides robust connection on the AUH side especially to India and the rest of South Asia.
1) Calgary is Westjet's primary hub with excellent connectivity to Western Canada. This will be an interesting travel option for travellers in British Columbia, Edmonton, Saskatchewan and potentially parts of NW US, assuming Etihad signs that agreement as Ben suggests is likely.
2) Calgary has a metro of about 1.6mn, but punches way above its weight in terms of corporate offices and business travelers as the home of Canada's oil & gas industry. It's...
1) Calgary is Westjet's primary hub with excellent connectivity to Western Canada. This will be an interesting travel option for travellers in British Columbia, Edmonton, Saskatchewan and potentially parts of NW US, assuming Etihad signs that agreement as Ben suggests is likely.
2) Calgary has a metro of about 1.6mn, but punches way above its weight in terms of corporate offices and business travelers as the home of Canada's oil & gas industry. It's the second largest base of head offices in Canada after Toronto. Alberta is by far the wealthiest province in Canada.
3) Could be some airport incentives playing a role here
4) Alberta and BC are very cosmopolitan, home to large South Asian, and increasingly, African diaspora communities who would consider this route.
YYC has also been pushing for these sorts of Middle East direct flights *a lot*. The new(er) international terminal was built to accommodate A380s - as was the new runway - and there was always an implicit understanding that that included an unspoken "as flown by Emirates, Qatar, and Etihad". Not necessarily the aircraft they envisioned, but this has been on the airport's radar for a while.
I should add that Calgary is the gateway to Alberta's Rocky Mountains, a major international tourist destination including Banff and Lake Louise which are only 60-90 minutes away from YYC. While still a surprise, I don't think the decision is that jawdropping. Canadian airports tend to punch above their comparably sized American counterparts for international destinations.
I checked the population of Canadian provinces. BC has 5.7 million, Alberta has 5 million. So, why is it so odd that they would choose Calgary over Vancouver, especially when BC places like Kelowna (173K) and Kamloops (114K) are about the same flight time from Calgary? Then add in Manitoba, 1.5 million.
There are some deals from YYZ to SE Asia and elsewhere in J on their a388 for later this year. Check it out.
"It's not about the oil" always means "actually, yeah, it is about the oil."
And the 'oil' is usually about the 'money'... if you care about the environment and really wanna be upset, check out Canada's oil sands in northern Alberta... some of the worst.
Calgary is where a lot of Canadian oil and gas companies are headquartered as well as companies that serve the industry. I wonder if that has something to do with it.
Vancouver, sure, but Calgary, even with a WS tie-in. Odd, if you ask me.
I’m sure Etihad was given some pretty hefty incentives to serve Calgary.
As there's somewhat of an Asian population in Calgary especially South and Southeast Asian, I wonder if they'll capture some of that traffic?
It's just a matter of time before Emirates starts Vancouver? Significant South Asian population there!
I am hoping that AA would have some award availability on this route.
Gotta wait for last-minute deals.