Gulf carrier Etihad Airways is return the Airbus A380 to one of its Abu Dhabi-New York rotations next summer, marking its restoration of services with the ultra-large jet on a second route.
Etihad resumed A380-operated flights on its London Heathrow route in July for the first time in more than three years. The carrier had flown 10 A380s before the pandemic, but late last year announced plans to bring four of the aircraft back amid industry-wide aircraft capacity challenges. Earlier this month it brought its third A380 back into service, all of which are deployed on the Heathrow service.
The airline has now announced plans to begin using the type on one of its double-daily flights to New York JFK from 22 April. Cirium schedules data shows Etihad had previously used A380s on the service prior to the pandemic. It currently deploys Airbus A350s and Boeing 787-9s on the route and will continue to use Dreamliners for the additional rotation.
Etihad chief executive executive Antonoaldo Neves says: “Putting the A380 on the popular New York route makes sense as we satisfy customer demand for more capacity, further growing our expanding network. The fact that our new route to Boston, Etihad’s fourth US gateway, will open on 31 March, three weeks before our A380 starts flying to New York, underlines our ambitious growth plans.”
The airline has not indicated whether it plans to bring additional A380s back in order to help serve the New York route.
