Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, will double its flights from Abu Dhabi to Erbil at the beginning of September.

The current twice-weekly service will increase to four services per week, complementing Etihad’s daily operation to its other Iraqi destination, Baghdad.

Etihad commenced two-class Airbus A320 operations to Erbil in June 2010, and the load factor on the route surpassed 80 per cent by May. This additional capacity is aimed at meeting continuing high demand on Etihad’s Erbil flights.

James Hogan, Etihad Airways chief executive officer, said: “We are committed to building and strengthening ties in our region. With these additional flights, Etihad will offer air travellers from around the world significantly improved connection opportunities through our Abu Dhabi hub as we continue to add breadth and depth through additional frequencies on key routes across our expanding global network.”

“We expect to see continuing strong demand on these routes, particularly from government and business travellers, as well as people from Iraq visiting family and friends around the world,” he added.

Etihad recently commenced its cargo operations to Erbil, supplementing cargo flights to Baghdad which began in September 2008. – TradeArabia News Service