SEOUL // Etihad Airways plans to further grow services into Asia by expanding its Abu Dhabi-to-Beijing service from five times a week to daily.
The carrier will start selling tickets for the additional services on December 15 ahead of the service going daily on July 1 next year.
The initial Abu Dhabi-to-Beijing service launched in March 2008 with four flights a week, which was increased to five a week earlier this year.
From February this year, the service has continued on to Nagoya in Japan, although ultimately Etihad plans to decouple the two routes.
"It's important [to have a daily service, so] business travellers know there is a flight every day. If you want to change, you know there's a flight," said James Hogan, the Etihad chief executive.
"It improves your overall seat factor for the route and the quality of revenue and the quality of the yield."
Additionally, Etihad has a total of 12 dedicated freight services per week from Abu Dhabi to Shanghai (daily), Beijing (three times a week) and Guangzhou (twice a week).
Roy Kinnear, Etihad's senior vice president of cargo, said cargo space coming out of China was more than 90 per cent full. Mobile phones, electronic consoles and clothing are among the main items carried from China to the Gulf.
Much of the cargo, Mr Kinnear said, transits through Abu Dhabi before being taken on to Africa and other parts of the Gulf, as well as Europe.
The airline would like to launch an Abu Dhabi-to-Shanghai service but this depends on the granting of slots to the Chinese business capital. Etihad has also spoken of a longer-term aim to launch a service between Abu Dhabi and Guangzhou.
Etihad's announcement of expansion of its services to Beijing comes four months after Emirates Airline introduced the A380 superjumbo on to its Dubai-to-Beijing service.
business@thenational.ae