SINGAPORE – Etihad Airways commenced its six weekly flights between Brisbane in Australia and Abu Dhabi, with a stopover in Singapore, on September 28.
This brings to total 12 weekly flights between Singapore and Abu Dhabi. Singapore Airlines also operates six flights on this sector.
Etihad Airways’ Peter Baumgartner, executive vice president for marketing and product, said, “Etihad’s first flight from Abu Dhabi to Singapore’s Changi Airport marks a major milestone for the airline. We see a big opportunity in this market with the increasing commercial co-operation between Singapore and Abu Dhabi, and aim to meet the growing demand for air travel between the UAE and Singapore from business and leisure travellers.”
Besides Abu Dhabi, Singapore is also connected to Dubai in the UAE. At Changi Airport, there are now three airlines serving the Singapore-UAE route: Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Etihad Airways. They operate a total of 116 weekly flights between Singapore, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Mr Lim Kim Choon, Director-General and Chief Executive Officer, of CAAS (Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore), said, “The launch of Etihad Airways’ services comes at an opportune time of strong growth in passenger traffic between the United Arab Emirates and Singapore.
“Passenger traffic between our two countries reached 340,000 in 2006, representing an impressive growth of 20.3% compared with the previous year. This strong growth has continued into 2007, with passenger traffic increasing by 20.1% in the first 8 months of this year, compared to the same period in 2006.”
Etihad Airways is the fourth new airline to launch flight services to Changi Airport this year. September alone saw three airlines launching their maiden flights at Changi: Myanmar’s Air Bagan, Sri Lanka’s Mihin Lanka and Etihad Airways, while Jett8 Airlines Cargo commenced freighter services in June 2007.
Currently, Changi Airport is served by 81 airlines which connect Singapore to 192 cities in 59 countries via 4,220 scheduled weekly flights.
