On 7 October 2013, Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has announced the launch of direct flights to Los Angeles, California, with beginning from 1 June to 2014. It will be the fourth US destination for Etihad Airways, in addition to Chicago, New York and Washington DC Etihad Airways will operate 28 weekly flights between the United States and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Route Abu Dhabi - Los Angeles will be honored with daily flights on board aircraft Boeing 777-200LR configured in 3 classes and with 237 seating capacity: 8 apartments at Diamond First Class, 40 seats at Pearl Business Class and 189 seats at Coral Economy Class.
Flight schedule Abu Dhabi - Los Angeles:
EY171 AUH 08:45 - 14:15 LAX 77W - daily
EY170 LAX 16:15 - 19:35 + 1 AUH 77W - daily
Etihad Airways does not have 777-200LR aircraft in the fleet, but has concluded a memorandum with Air India to take over 5 units starting with 2014. This type of two-engine aircraft can carry up to 260 passengers in a configuration with 3 classes and has a range of up to 17300 Km, enough to honor direct flights between Abu Dhabi and Los Angeles. Qatar Airways and Emirates use Boeing 777-200LR to operate in the United States and Australia.
In 2006, Etihad Airways opened the first route to the US with flights to New York. In the 7 years of flights between the United States and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Etihad carried approximately 2 million passengers.
American Airlines and Etihad Airways have a codeshare agreement signed in September 2009. Thus, Etihad Airways introduced the EY code on American flights operated from airports in Chicago, New York and Washington to 70 from destinations within the United States, and American Airlines introduced the AA code on Etihad flights between the United States and the United Arab Emirates. .