Etihad Airways operates a fleet of just 10 Airbus A380s. So while they can use these planes to operate some of their flagship routes, they have to be selective with where they fly the planes. Contrast that to Emirates, where nearly half of their fleet is A380s.
Continue reading: Etihad Will Fly The A380 To Seoul Incheon
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Thanks for checking into where the plane is being pulled from. Airlines often announce new routes with lots of grandiose fanfare but somehow forget to mention the service that they're pulling to make a new route or upgrade possible.
Etihad's strategy is interesting. QR dumps its A380s in slot-restricted markets like BKK and Australia, while Etihad chooses ICN of all places to fly the A380. Restarting MEL would have been better as MEL still has a Residence lounge.
“Etihad has operated more than one daily flight, and it’s not like they have much connectivity beyond Incheon.“
I thought Etihad codeshares with both Korean Air and Asiana, or have that changed?
It’s about the connectivity offered at Abu Dhabi. Not the connectivity at Seoul. Abu Dhabu connectivity is what the whole airline is about. Not connectivity st the spokes.
Now we know why Asiana stopped allowing AUH-JFK redemptions in First.
Every Korean would be booking ICN-AUH-JFK awards!
Articles like these are why I love this blog. The article itself isn't special in reality, but compared to other blogs, they either have ONLY mainstream and basic articles (and very card sign up focused, of course -- cough TPG). Or they are hobbyists who are either too small to have good volume, or they only do trip reports, for whatever reason.
this makes sense since Korea-UAE have strong diplomatic relationship and most of the big engineering projects in the country are built by Korean firms - most notably the Burj Khalifa. lots of travel between the two countries for either work or travel. wish I had been able to take the A380 on this route rather than the 777 which is STILL unpainted in the new/current livery
I am somewhat surprised, but also understand this move because of all the reasons cited above, BUT the biggest reasons I suspect is because there's an increased demand from travelers looking to get to Europe and save a couple hundred dollars. Etihad provides EXCELLENT connection schedules to Europe via Abu Dhabi. You leave ICN around 12am~1am, get to Abu Dhabi 5am, take a couple hours to connect/roam around the airport, take the early morning flight to many tourist-popular cities in Europe (London, Paris, Rome, Barcelona, etc etc) to get you there by early afternoon. And, Etihad has been consistently cheaper than Korean Air or Asiana both of whom offer direct flights to most European cities.
I just searched for a flight on Etihad's website to see if I can book a residence seat from ICN-AUH and it's not allowing me to do so. And it says that it's still Do you know when it would be bookable?
Are there really two A380 flights a day from Abu Dhabi to Sydney? I thought the morning flight was already flown by a 777.