Two Sundays ago, as most were getting ready for Easter dinner, Etihad Airways inaugurated its long awaited (at least for me) daily service between Washington Dulles and Abu Dhabi, making the airline the fourth middle eastern carrier to serve Dulles and the third to fly there on a daily basis. The route will be served by a A340-500, making the flight the third A340 to fly to the airport daily as of today.
Announced more than a year ago in late February 2012, the service was originally intended to be introduced as the only direct service between Washington and the middle east, but Emirates announced its intention to fly to the city and was able to launch its service in mid-September. The inbound flight operates as EY 131 arriving at Dulles at 5:30 pm and departs as EY 130 at 10:30 pm.
The flight makes Washington the fourth North American destination for the airline. According to James Hogan, President and CEO of Etihad, both government and corporate customers on both sides of the Atlantic have indicated that the capital-to-capital route would support daily service. Etihad is also opening a $6.8 million premium lounge in Concourse A for it's Diamond First and Pearl Business Class travellers.
The press release failed to mention any comments from Etihad on potential competition with fellow UAE-based carrier Emirates, which opened it's route late last year.
