His Excellency Sultan Mohammed Majed Al Ali, Greek ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, left, and Peter Baumgartner, Etihad Airways’ chief commercial officer

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, and codeshare partner Aegean Airlines, are celebrating five years of Etihad Airways’ non-stop services between Athens and Abu Dhabi, and the start of Aegean’s new direct flights to the UAE capital.

Etihad Airways commenced operations to Athens in June 2009, and since then has carried almost 400,000 guests and nearly 3,700 tonnes of cargo on the route. 

To meet rising demand, the airline will increase its current daily Athens-Abu Dhabi services to ten per week on July 2nd.

For the summer 2014 season Etihad Airways will also deploy a wide-body Airbus A330-200 aircraft on the Athens-Abu Dhabi route, returning to Airbus A320 operations for the winter season.

Peter Baumgartner, Etihad Airways’ chief commercial officer, said: “Year on year, our Athens route has exceeded our expectations and we are delighted to build on this success by adding more capacity to and from Greece, and officially mark our codeshare partnership here in Athens with Aegean, Greece’s largest commercial airline.

“From today, Aegean will operate four weekly services to our home and hub, Abu Dhabi, providing convenient onward connections for guests to destinations on the Etihad Airways network right across the globe.

“Etihad Airways will place its EY flight code on these new Aegean services, and, focussing on our guests in the travel and tourism industry, the business community and governments, we look forward to further cementing the strong ties between Greece and the UAE.”

Peter Baumgartner, left, Etihad Airways’ chief commercial officer, and Dimitris Gerogiannis, Aegean Airlines managing director, celebrate Etihad Airways’ five years of Athens-Abu Dhabi services

Aegean Airlines will operate the new Athens-Abu Dhabi service with a 168-seat Airbus A320 aircraft. 

The airline is also allowing Etihad Airways to place its EY flight code on Aegean services to 16 destinations across Greece.

Leaders from both airlines celebrate the partnership

Etihad Airways

The latest development comes at the end of a strong month for the United Arab Emirates flag-carrier.

During Arabian Travel Market Etihad wowed crowds with revelations about its latest First Class, Business Class and Economy Class offerings, while also revealing The Residence, a completely new class of airline seats. 

The new product offers levels of luxury and total privacy normally found only on private jets.

Each Etihad Airways A380 will offer a boutique version of The Residence with different colour palettes, table marquetry and custom carpets.

Customers in The Residence will have the services of a personal butler throughout their flight.

These fully trained service professionals will receive specialist training at the Savoy Butler Academy in London.

They will also have a dedicated VIP travel concierge team who will ensure every detail of their travel experience, including ground transport, cuisine, and amenities, are tailored to their requirements.

Peter Baumgartner, chief operating officer, Etihad Airways from Breaking Travel News

Etihad Regional, the new European carrier from the airline, is also going from strength-to-strength, having recently seen five new routes launch of out Zurich.

Building on its network expansion strategy, Etihad Regional will commence daily services from Zurich to Linz (Austria), Lyon (France) and Verona (Italy).

From Zurich, the airline will also operate to Düsseldorf (Germany) two times per week, and to Florence (Italy) four times per week.

Etihad Regional already flies daily from Zurich to Geneva and Leipzig-Halle, and recently launched three flights per week between Zurich and Turin.

The addition of the five new routes will bring Etihad Regional’s total network to 25 year-round destinations in Europe.

The airline will deploy its ATR 72-500 and Saab 2000 fleet on the new routes.

The carrier also recently opened a new lounge for VIP travellers in Sydney, Australia, while in Doha, Qatar, Etihad has now begun operations from Hamad International Airport.

More Information

Etihad Airways is considered the World’s Leading Airline by the prestigious World Travel Awards - with the organisation set to visit Greece in August for the annual Europe Gala Ceremony.

The event, hosted by Divani Apollon Palace & Thalasso, will welcome tourism industry leaders from across the continent to a night of world-class entertainment, fine dining and, of course, trophy presentations.