Etihad Airways To Begin A321 Flights To London

Etihad Airways is expanding its international network, offering more flights between Abu Dhabi and London Heathrow.

The carrier flies multiple times daily to London and is now eyeing further expansion to meet growing demand levels.

Thanks to a new filing, Etihad Airways requests a slot swap with the Airport Coordination responsible for the Northern Summer schedule.

The swap would involve the Abu Dhabi-based carrier taking on slots from American Airlines to expand its presence in London over six months. These flights would be scheduled daily.

More importantly, Etihad Airways would look to use the A321 family, a massive move that would represent a shift from what is typically seen between the two locations in widebody aircraft.

Under the application, the airline would look to operate the route as EY703/704 with a view of flying from 30 March 2025 to the almost conclusion of the 2025 Northern Summer schedule on 25 October 2025.

Furthermore, the airline would take on American Airlines slots previously operated with the Boeing 777 and act as AA178 with late-night departures and arrivals.

Etihad Airways In London

London has always represented a hugely important market for Etihad Airways. However, that was undoubtedly emphasised following the conclusion of the COVID-19 pandemic.

By the time the pandemic ended, Etihad Airways had realised it desperately needed to increase its capacity and turned to a previously ruled-out type in the Airbus A380.

This decision wasn’t taken lightly, given that throughout the early 2020s, Etihad Airways confirmed that the plane would not return and was not profitable.

However, the importance of Heathrow and other markets brought back this plane as Etihad battled to source replacements due to supply chain issues.

With many daily flights and now a view to adding another one, even temporarily, it shows there’s still more demand for Etihad Airways to capture between the two locations.

Furthermore, thanks to the airline’s expansive global network that reaches many areas, customers can access more markets than just Abu Dhabi from London by leveraging the geographical positioning of the Middle Eastern location as a transit point.