Etihad wet leases Virgin Australia aircraft for KL route

Etihad Airways has leased a Virgin Australia Boeing 777-300ER for use on its route between Abu Dhabi and Kuala Lumpur.

The UAE carrier said today that the once a week wet lease service reflected the importance of the relationship between the two carriers. Etihad Airways and Virgin Australia forged a ten-year strategic partnership 21 months ago.

Kevin Knight, chief strategy and planning officer at Etihad, said: "This new agreement expands our successful partnership with Virgin Australia which already provides our guests access to Australia and elsewhere on our combined network of over 150 destinations."

Industry analyst Saj Ahmad said: "Etihads continued growth means that this once a week wet leased 777-300ER can accomodate additional passenger demand but it also signals a more deepening alliance with Virgin Australia as they both work together to compete against other Asian based carriers.

Critically, if demand changes, Etihad can simply walk away from the additional airplane with minimal financial detriment and with Virgin Australia keen to show flexibility towards Etihad as part of their wide ranging partnership, they too benefit from this additional revenue they'll derive from leasing out one of their 777s."

The aircraft is configured with 33 flat bed seats in Business class and 328 seats in Economy class. The return flights will be operated as normal using Etihad Airways' existing daily EY411 and EY418 flight codes, respectively. Flight time is seven hours and 20 minutes.