Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has launched its maiden Moscow flight from its homebase at Abu Dhabi airport utilising an A320 aircraft.
The five flights a week service to the Russian capital will be followed by a new service to the Kazakhstan commercial capital Almaty, which started in early December, bringing the total number of destinations served by the carrier to 50.
James Hogan, Etihad Airways’ chief executive, said: “Russia is an increasingly important destination from the UAE, as the countries increase their trading relationships. Since we announced this route earlier in the year, we have seen strong interest in it, both from UAE travellers and from customers transiting through our Abu Dhabi hub from cities around the world.”
The Russian capital will be Etihad’s eleventh destination in its flight network in the Europe region which already includes services to Brussels, Dublin, Frankfurt, Geneva, London, Manchester, Milan, Minsk, Munich and Paris.