United Arab Emirates (UAE) operator Etihad Airways is planning to launch flights to two new destinations in China during the Northern Winter schedules, subject to Government approval. The carrier is to offer a four times weekly link from its expanding Abu Dhabi hub to Chengdu from December, becoming the first Middle East carrier to serve the southwest Chinese city. Meanwhile, from March 01, 2012 it will inaugurate a five times weekly Abu Dhabi – Shanghai Pu Dong link, rising to a daily schedule from April 16, 2012.

Etihad Airways only serves a single route in China offering a daily service between Abu Dhabi and Beijing, but its main Gulf region rivals Emirates Airline and Qatar Airways have already expanded to serve the three main markets in the country, namely Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Emirates’ offers twice daily flights to Beijing (including a daily Airbus A380 rotation) and Shanghai and a daily flight to Guangzhou, while Qatar Airways has daily links to Shanghai and Guangzhou and a four times weekly schedule to Beijing.

The table below shows that Emirates Airline currently dominates the traffic between the Middle East and China, handling a 34 per cent share of the 1.33 million passenger O&D market. Etihad Airways is still relatively new to the market and having launched flights later than Emirates Airline and Qatar Airways is playing catch-up with its rivals. It is currently ranked seventh in the list of airline operators between the Middle East and China, carrying around 55,000 O&D passengers, a 4.2 per cent share of the market.

But, Etihad is taking a step ahead of its rivals by launching flights to Chengdu, the capital of the Sichuan province. The carrier plans to launch flights on December 15 using an Airbus A330-200 in a two-class configuration offering 22 Pearl Business class and 240 Coral Economy class seats.

“The new Chengdu services will connect the UAE with the economic centre and transportation and communication hub of China’s booming southwest region,” said James Hogan, Chief Executive Officer, Etihad Airways. “This will further stimulate the growth of commerce and trade between the UAE and China, already the UAE’s third largest trading partner. It will also provide a new, more convenient gateway into southwest China for business and leisure travellers from Europe and the Middle East and a faster, new route to Europe and the Middle East for the rapidly growing Chinese outbound travel market.”

An estimated 13,000 O&D passengers already travel between the Middle East and Chengdu, while a further 102,000 travel from Europe, Etihad’s other main target market for traffic. Around 13 per cent of these passengers, however, fly point-to-point with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines from Amsterdam Schiphol, the only direct flight to Chengdu from the continent.

Etihad’s expansion into China will continue in March 2012 with the addition of Shanghai Pu Dong to its network. The airline will initially offer five flights per week from Abu Dhabi with effect from March 1, increasing to a daily schedule from April 16.

“Shanghai, the most populous city in mainland China, is a strategically important addition to our Chinese network,” said James Hogan. “Together with our daily flights to the capital Beijing, the Shanghai route will offer travellers competitive access to the two biggest centres for commerce, trade, government, culture, and tourism in China.”