Etihad Airways has launched its inaugural service from Abu Dhabi to Beijing Daxing International airport.
The carrier previously operated services to Beijing Capital International airport and has now relocated to Daxing, three years after the plans were first announced.
The inaugural flight EY888 was operated using a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, with the first outbound flight set to depart Beijing Daxing for Abu Dhabi on March 30.
This year marks the 15th anniversary of Eithad’s services in China and its Abu Dhabi-Beijing route.
Arik De, chief revenue officer of Etihad, said:
“With China’s reopening and the restart of the aviation and tourism industries, we are very glad to see the long overdue move of our scheduled services to Beijing Daxing International airport, which will further strengthen our commitment to the country’s aviation market development and Chinese travellers.”
“The integrated transportation facilities at Beijing Daxing International Airport will give Etihad Airways access to a huge catchment area around Beijing West Rail Station. We will be working closely with local partners to transfer Etihad’s rich experience in Europe working with intermodal rail service operators to Daxing to allow greater choice at a competitive fare on a single connecting ticket through air-rail modality.”
Etihad recently launched reciprocal interline partnerships with three new airline partners – Philippine Airlines (PAL), Austrian Airlines (OS) and Airlink South Africa (4Z), while re-launching interline links with Biman Bangladesh and codeshares with Air Seychelles (HM) and ITA Airways (AZ).