Etihad Airways continued its expansion drive by announcing a new service to Lagos and Abuja, the two major cities in Nigeria, with flights expected to start in the first quarter of next year. The four-times-a-week service will employ an Airbus 330-200 aircraft, which can accommodate 262 passengers in a two-class configuration while carrying 14 tonnes of cargo.
The route will fly in a triangular pattern with flights from Abu Dhabi flying to Lagos first and then onwards to Abuja, before returning to the UAE capital. James Hogan, the chief executive of Etihad, said the service would particularly target West African travellers coming to the UAE for trading, shopping and holidays. Etihad already flies to the African cities of Johannesburg, Cairo, Casablanca and Khartoum.
Nigeria is one of the most populous nations on the continent, with an estimated 140 million residents, including nearly eight million in Lagos alone. Etihad will join existing Gulf carriers Emirates and Qatar Airways in serving the populous West African nation. The Abu Dhabi airline is targeting a launch date of March 2009, which will make Lagos and Abuja the seventh and eighth new Etihad destinations in 12 months. This year Etihad opened new services to Beijing, Chennai, Kozhikode, and Minsk, with Almaty and Moscow scheduled for December.
The rapidly growing airline is scheduled to receive up to 205 new aircraft, if all options are exercised, over the next 12 years following a $43 billion (Dh153bn) order at the Farnborough Air Show in July with Boeing and Airbus. @email:igale@thenational.ae
