Etihad Airways is contemplating restoring operations between Abu Dhabi and Belgrade by way of its three way partnership with Sharjah-based low value provider Air Arabia referred to as Air Arabia Abu Dhabi. As a part of its fleet simplification and enterprise transformation, Etihad plans to dump its fleet of Airbus A320 plane to Air Arabia Abu Dhabi. The funds airline is then anticipated to take over various former and current Etihad routes operated by the single-aisle plane. Media experiences declare Etihad will switch crew to Air Arabia Abu Dhabi together with the A320 fleet. Throughout its final full yr of operations between Abu Dhabi and Belgrade, Etihad Airways dealt with 114.256 passengers on the route, with a mean annual cabin load issue of over 90%.
Etihad Airways not too long ago advised EX-YU Aviation Information it was evaluating the opportunity of resuming flights between the 2 capital cities which have been terminated on account of the coronavirus pandemic in October 2020. In an announcement to EX-YU Aviation Information, the Emirati nationwide provider mentioned, “Serbia just isn’t at the moment a part of our working community, nevertheless it stays an essential marketplace for Etihad Airways. We regularly evaluate the ahead growth of the community, and as a part of this course of shall be recurrently evaluating the potential to reinstate a connection between Abu Dhabi and Belgrade”. Since Etihad’s withdrawal from the route, one other low value provider, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, commenced flights between the 2 cities with its Airbus A321 plane and at the moment maintains three weekly rotations.
Etihad relied closely on switch passengers on its Belgrade service, primarily to and from China and Australia. Its high 5 feeder routes on the Belgrade operation in 2019 have been Shanghai, Beijing, Sydney, Hong Kong and Melbourne. Air Arabia Abu Dhabi, which launched in July 2020, primarily serves the Gulf and the Indian subcontinent. Nonetheless, it additionally maintains seasonal operations to Sarajevo. Air Arabia Abu Dhabi’s mum or dad firm, the Sharjah-based Air Arabia, deliberate to launch 4 weekly flights to Belgrade in June 2019, however suspended ticket gross sales two months previous to the deliberate launch. Etihad continues to keep up an 18% stake in Air Serbia.
