Etihad
Airways will fly daily between Abu Dhabi and Tokyo from April 2,
2013.
The
Abu Dhabi-based airline was the first Middle Eastern carrier to
launch operations to the Japanese capital in March 2010, and with
five non-stop flights a week to Tokyo’s Narita airport, the airline
has since carried approximately 160,000 travellers between the two
cities.
The
daily service will support traffic growth between Abu Dhabi and Japan
and connecting traffic to onward GCC destinations, the Middle East,
Africa and Europe. The additional services will also improve the
connectivity in Abu Dhabi by 40 per cent.
James
Hogan, Etihad Airways’ President and Chief Executive Officer,
believes the airline’s increase to daily flights will see a further
strengthening of the close trade, tourism and cultural ties between
the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Japan.
“Since
launching, we have been proud to say that we were the first Middle
Eastern carrier to operate to Tokyo, and as expected there has been a
high volume of traffic on the route, particularly from business
travellers,” Mr Hogan said
“Japan
has been, and will continue to be, a key market for Etihad Airways
and we look forward to playing an integral role in strengthening ties
between the two countries. Abu Dhabi’s tourism offering has also
developed rapidly in the past two years, and we believe there are
significant opportunities to grow the Japanese leisure travel market
as well.”
The
daily flights to Tokyo will be operated by a two-class Airbus
A330-200 aircraft, configured with 22 Pearl Business class and 240
Coral Economy class seats. The airline offers range of in-flight
services tailored to the particular needs of the Japanese market.
This includes a special menu, Japanese language in-flight
entertainment content and cabin crew comprising Japanese nationals
and Japanese speakers.
The
launch of Etihad Airways’ Tokyo services followed the commencement
of the airline's flights to Nagoya in early 2010. A codeshare
partnership with premium Japanese carrier ANA was established at the
same time. Including flights to Nagoya, Etihad Airways has carried
approximately 230,000 guests between Japan and the UAE.
There
are more than 300 Japanese companies and nearly 3,500 Japanese
expatriates living in the UAE.
To
forge close ties with the Japanese community, Etihad Airways formed a
strong partnership with the Japanese Government to enable the start
of services between the two capital cities and at the time of
launching its services hosted a Japanese Cultural Week.
Etihad
Airways will also add depth and frequency into its existing network
with extra flights to go daily to Casablanca starting 28 March, 2013.