Etihad To Fly A380 To Jeddah On Shortest Route
Intro
Etihad is set to fly its A380 on its shortest route ever from Abu Dhabi to Jeddah starting on the 1st of September. If you are in the market to try this product out on a shorter leg, this option might be for you.
Etihad A380, 4th Route
Etihad currently has four aircraft in its fleet serving New York (JFK) once daily and London (LHR) twice daily. With a fleet of 4 aircraft, this represents a lot of downtime for the aircraft between flights. More downtimes, less margins, less margins=less profit.
Etihad is set to launch its A380 to Paris in November, and until then, it will be operating this short 1004-mile hop from Abu Dhabi to Jeddah. Flights on the A380 will only operate on Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays from September 1st- October 26th. The schedule is as follows:
EY311 Abu Dhabi to Jeddah departing 2:10 PM arriving 4:10 PM
EY312 Jeddah to Abu Dhabi departing 6:40 PM and arriving at 10:25 PM
My guess is that the inbound aircraft from New York (JFK) will be the one aircraft that operates the Jeddah routes. Instead of keeping it on the ground for almost 18 hours before heading off to London or New York, it will land from New York at 11 am, head up to Jeddah at 2, and back down at 6:40 pm.
Prices
Interestingly, Etihad only seems to be selling economy and business class fares for this route. Miles availability seems to be nonexistent through American Airlines (usually opens 30 days out for premium cabins), so for now, we are unable to get an indicator of how many fares they might release.
833$ is quite expensive for a flight of this length, so when award space opens up, that will certainly be the way to go.
Only time will tell how Eithad plans to allocate the first-class suites and the residence. My guess is that some lucky people might be in for an upgrade 😉.
Final Thoughts
Etihad will be launching thrice weekly service from Abu Dhabi to Jeddah onboard their swanky A380-800 beginning September 1st and ending October 26th. For now, only business class and economy are being sold. Perhaps you might be lucky enough to swing a free upgrade to the residence!
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