Abu Dhabi: Etihad Airways is looking to expand its operations in Russia, as it completes four years of its non-stop service between Moscow and Abu Dhabi, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.
It added that additional expansion opportunities are also being “actively evaluated”, quoting the airline’s President and CEO, James Hogan, who was speaking at a press conference in Moscow.
“Moscow-Abu Dhabi has been a tremendous success with strong load factor and good traffic feeds from our codeshare partner, S7 Airlines. The aim now is to expand services and connectivity over both Abu Dhabi and Moscow with S7,” he said, adding that the UAE is home to almost “25,000 Russians and 400 Russia-UAE joint venture companies”.
“And as a result, the business and cultural ties between the two countries have never been stronger,” said Hogan.
Etihad began operations to the Russian capital on December 1, 2008, and since then has carried almost 250,000 travellers and 620 tons of cargo on the route, it said in a statement, adding that in recent times the airline has also made it easier for Russian nationals to obtain a UAE visiting visa, through the TT Services online visa application centre.
