Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has started operating daily flights between Abu Dhabi and Washington since the beginning of this month. This route uses Airbus A340-500 aircraft, configured in 3 classes and with a total of 240 seats.
The EY131 flight departs from Abu Dhabi International every day at 10: 00 and lands at Washington at 15: 00. The EY130 return flight departs from Washington Dulles Airport at 22: 15 and lands at Abu Dhabi at 19: 45. This is the fourth destination in North America for Etihad Airways, after New York, Chicago and Toronto. This year, the Etihad airway carried over 2 millions of passengers between Abu Dhabi and North American destinations, with 12.6% more than 2012.
As part of the development strategy, a new terminal will be opened at Abu Dhabi airport starting with 2017. This will increase the airport's capacity from 12.5 million passengers to 30 million passengers annually. Future plans show that the airport will grow to a capacity of 60 of millions of passengers served annually.