On November 25, Etihad Airways added 10 destinations from its Abu Dhabi hub: Algiers, Atlanta, Chiang Mai, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Krabi, Medan, Phenom Penh, Taipei, and Tunis. Seven of these use its Airbus A321LRs, the first of which is due to enter service in August 2025.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was the only US destination; the anticipated Philadelphia launch, hinted at because of the Liberty Bell in its promo video, did not materialize. At Routes World in Bahrain in October, Etihad’s Chief Commercial Officer said another US destination would be announced shortly. Now we know where it is.
Etihad adds Atlanta to network
Beginning on July 2, the brand-new airport pair will be served four times weekly on the Airbus A350-1000. Etihad currently has five of them, each with 371 seats: 44 in business and 327 in economy.
Photo: Carlos Yudica | Shutterstock
The 6,622 nautical mile (12,264) airport pair is scheduled as follows, with all times local. It will become Atlanta’s fourth-longest service, after Johannesburg (Delta), Cape Town (Delta), and Addis Ababa (Ethiopian).
- Abu Dhabi-Atlanta: EY13, 09:30-16:30
- Atlanta-Abu Dhabi: EY14, 22:00-19:30+1
1:16
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12th Atlanta long-haul carrier (for now)
Etihad will become Atlanta’s 12th long-haul passenger operator, joining Air France, British Airways, Ethiopian (launched in 2023), KLM, Korean Air, LATAM (launched in 2023), Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, SAS (launched in 2024), Turkish Airlines, and Virgin. Given Saudia’s new Delta codeshare, it may add Atlanta flights.
Emirates is expected to add Atlanta to its network in 2025. If it materializes, it will probably run daily, perhaps on the Airbus A350-900, the first of which has now been delivered.
If it happens, it’d immediately have the frequency advantage versus Etihad. Moreover, Atlanta-Dubai is a decent-sized market, and Emirates (and partner flydubai) has a much larger network than the near-neighbor.
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Does the new route make sense?
Naturally, the Atlanta-Abu Dhabi point-to-point market is tiny: barely 3,500 roundtrip passengers a year. Etihad also does not (yet?) have a relationship with Delta and has a tiny presence in Africa. As such, the carrier will rely enormously on South Asian traffic, which is also the key focus of Qatar Airways, the European operators, and others.
Photo: Carlos Yudica | Shutterstock
In the year to July 2024, Atlanta’s 10 largest South Asian and African markets that Etihad serves were as follows. No Middle Eastern city made the cut:
- Mumbai: 55,000 roundtrip passengers
- Delhi: 53,000
- Hyderabad: 36,000
- Johannesburg: 32,000
- Bengaluru: 29,000
- Ahmedabad: 27,000
- Chennai: 22,000
- Nairobi (resumes on December 15): 21,000
- Dhaka: 12,000
- Karachi: 10,000
Image: GCMap
Etihad will have five US destinations
They are summarized below, with the latest information as of November 25:
- Atlanta: four times weekly A350-1000
- Chicago O’Hare: daily A350-1000
- Boston: daily 787-9
- New York JFK: double daily A380 and 787-9
- Washington Dulles: daily 787-9
Of course, in the past, Etihad flew to Dallas/Fort Worth (2014-2018), Los Angeles (2014-2020), and San Francisco (2014-2017).
In 2017, Etihad carried a record 18.6 million passengers. It was a time of excessiveness, overambition, and misdirection. It lost considerable money annually and implemented significant cuts and changes.
Having ‘shrunk to grow,’ it is in expansion mode again, but will it do better this time? Has it really learned the hard lessons? Will it be more sustainable? The jury is out.
