Etihad Airways has just announced that it will launch flights to Boston in 2024. This is major, because it’s Etihad’s first new destination in the United States in many years.
In this post:
Etihad’s Abu Dhabi to Boston flight launches March 2024
As of March 31, 2024, Etihad will launch a new 4x weekly flight between Abu Dhabi (AUH) and Boston (BOS). The flight will operate in both directions on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, with the following schedule:
EY147 Abu Dhabi to Boston departing 3:10AM arriving 8:55AM
EY148 Boston to Abu Dhabi departing 3:55PM arriving 12:00PM (+1 day)
The 6,670-mile flight is blocked at 13hr45min westbound and 12hr5min eastbound. Etihad will use a two-cabin Boeing 787-9 for the route, featuring 299 seats, including 28 business class seats and 271 economy class seats. Etihad’s current Boeing 787 business class product is very good, but the airline is introducing an even better new business class product on the plane soon.
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, but I’m sure that will change over time.
How Boston fits into Etihad’s route network
Boston will be Etihad’s fourth destination in the United States, after Chicago (ORD), New York (JFK), and Washington (IAD). It’s so cool to see Etihad add a new route to the United States.
Back in the day, Etihad had incredibly lofty growth plans, but was lighting money on fire. So the airline underwent a major restructuring, and greatly shrunk. Over time we saw Etihad cut service to Dallas (DFW), Los Angeles (LAX), and San Francisco (SFO).
Etihad’s goal is to now grow sustainably, and this route seems to be in line with that vision. As you can see, Etihad is being conservative here, with only four weekly flights, so hopefully this proves successful.
Etihad plans to offer connectivity beyond Boston through its partnership with JetBlue. Furthermore, Etihad emphasizes how many Emiratis have studied in Boston, which is presumably another major reason for this link On top of that, Abu Dhabi has significant investments in the healthcare and education sectors of Boston.
Perhaps most significantly, Boston has a huge international population, and Etihad can connect those passengers in one stop to all kinds of places around the globe via Abu Dhabi.
Boston has seen a huge amount of growth in international service over the years. Among the “big three” Gulf carriers, Etihad is the last to offer service to Boston, as Emirates and Qatar Airways also fly to the airport.
Bottom line
As of March 2024, Etihad will launch a new 4x weekly flight between Abu Dhabi and Boston using Boeing 787s. I’m excited to see Etihad add another destination in the United States, after so greatly reducing its presence in the country many years back.
What do you make of Etihad launching Boston flights?
I couldn't help but notice how long the plane is on the ground in Boston.
This would be great I believe AA miles can be redeemed on Etihad and I’ve wanted to take a trip with my dad and depart from Boston together. BA miles plus $700 fees each way is costly.
Coincidence or not, this news comes mere days after we heard rumblings about Air India to Boston. Could both Etihad and Air India happily coexist at Boston with Emirates and Qatar already providing seats to/from India? I think so. Emirates, seeing this upcoming bifurcation of traffic, is likely eager to get their new, smaller planes and deploy them to Boston. As for Qatar, I think they’ve hit the sweet spot with A350-900s to Boston. Emirates needs to do the same.
Even brand new routes don't have saver level award space. Baseline is now 3-5x mileage required for awards vs. 2019.
BOS makes complete sense. With terrific Colleges/Universities that attract people from all over the world and so much more to attract Etihad its presence will be most welcome.
No doubt no doubt also the surrounding New England area
Etihad's bread and butter is still the Indian subcontinent, SE Asia and Middle East. Already Emirates and Qatar are serving BOS, not sure if BOS has enough traffic/yields to support a third carrier from the Middle East.
It does. 100%. QR and EY are consistently busy/sold. This flight will do well, guaranteed.
Do you think this makes it more likely that they will bring the A380 back in more routes? Not necessarily to BOS, but if they are shifting a 789 or to two this route maybe adding an A380 to JFK or something?
What about LA or SF? Is it because they've transformed into complete dystopian cities?
What a stupid thing to say
Not that I'm wrong about that
Incredibly stupid.
Wtf does this have to do aviation?????
Remember that in 2017 when AA was asking the US gov to look into the Gulf carriers receiving state subsidies this effectively killed that service to DFW. AA ended the codeshare agmt & Ethiad pulled out. It was a fairly successful route. So maybe this move to BOS is a warming of the relationship since AA has a base at BOS.
With Jetblue and AA (aren't they partners too) having decent presence in Boston, makes sense.
“(aren't they partners too)”?
Not anymore.
https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/partner-airlines/etihad-airways.jsp
Really? But I can still book on AA miles if I go on the app? Not being difficult just curious!
@Andrew Reiser - you mean AA and JetBlue, right? The Northeast Alliance was dissolved last month; though AA is still appealing the court decision. Perhaps you can still use AA miles to book JetBlue tix even though the NEA is no longer?
No sorry I wasn't clear, AA and Ethiad are partners even tho Ethiad is not part of Oneworld. You can book Ethiad with AA miles.
OCTinPHL, AA has been a partner of Etihad for well over a decade (used to be a stronger partnership, but still). Long before JetBlue was a partner of Etihad and LONG before the NEA was even a thought.
So my point was Ethiad is partners with Jetblue which uses Logan as a Hub AND aa airlines which uses Logan as a quasi-focus city.
Sorry - I took “With Jetblue and AA (aren't they partners too)” to mean AA and JetBlue are partners.