UAE national carrier Etihad Airways will begin operating flights to Guangzhou in China next month.
It will therefore become the first international airline to operate long-haul passenger services to the top three Chinese gateways of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou since the start of the pandemic.
The twice-weekly passenger service to Guangzhou will start on October 10, pending regulatory approval, and will initially use a two-class Boeing 777 on the route.
Etihad’s services to Shanghai resumed in July 2020 and it restarted flights to Beijing in June 2022.
The schedule of the flights to Guangzhou are as below:
| Flight | Departure | Time | Arrival | Time | Date |
| EY 868 | Abu Dhabi | 23:00 | Guangzhou | 10:25 (+1) | Monday/Friday |
| EY 869 | Guangzhou | 18:40 | Abu Dhabi | 22:40 | Wednesday/Sunday |
“We are proud to offer our guests a third destination in China as Etihad Airways begins flights to the pivotal and historic port city of Guangzhou,” said Martin Drew, Etihad’s senior vice president Global Sales and Cargo.
With the addition of these new services, Etihad will offer four weekly flights between Abu Dhabi and China: two services per week to Guangzhou and a weekly service to Beijing and Shanghai.
“Our twice-weekly service [to Guangzhou] will further address the huge demand for passenger travel between the UAE and China, as well as provide new cargo capacity, building on the formidable people and business ties between the two markets,” added Drew.
Apart from Etihad, Emirates is the other UAE carrier which flies to Guangzhou. Starting last month, Emirates increased the number of flights it operates from Dubai to Guangzhou to twice-weekly services. The added frequency meant that the number of seats available on the Dubai-Guangzhou service now total over 1,800 a week.