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What’s changing?A host of European cities have seen their flight frequency increase in 2025
Etihad are growing their fleet, and doubling down on key cities. Their Airbus A321LRs are now in service, giving the airline its first long-range single-aisle plane (and one that features lie-flat business class seats).
What’s changing?
Etihad has announced a raft of changes to their flight frequency. Manchester and Paris see the biggest increases, with one extra flight per day. Dublin has three extra flights per week. There are no changes to the London volume, but Heathrow is served by four flights per day (plus one direct flight by BA). The Etihad A380 remains in the morning timeslot.
Ahead of Riyadh Air’s 2025 launch, they’re getting ready for some competition. Etihad has brand recognition and a ton of route data. What Etihad doesn’t have is their old CEO, who now runs Riyadh Air.
Manchester Etihad changes
Etihad currently flies once per day from MAN to AUH (Abu Dhabi) with 787-10s. That has a two-class business class and economy layout. That flight is a morning flight, taking off around 9am.
From 1 January 2025, the morning flight moves slightly earlier (8:25 am), getting you into AUH in the evening at 7:30 pm. The second flight is an overnight, leaving at 7:50 pm and landing just before 7 am. The first flight of the day switches to a 777, and the evening flight is a 787. Neither carries a first-class cabin.
The experience at MAN won’t be changing, yet. Back in 2023 Etihad moved to Terminal 1. They will be moving at some point as Terminal 1 is due to close in 2025, and the assumption is that they end up in T2. Whether they’ll end up with a dedicated lounge in T2 is an unanswered question, but they do have one in T1, and with the doubling of flights you’d hope they’d be opening a lounge.
Etihad A380
Etihad announced that their A380 will remain in their fleet until the 2030s, but only on their high volume routes. That’s one flight per day from Heathrow to Abu Dhabi, one flight per day from New York, one daily flight from Paris. Etihad has also just launched flights to Mumbai on the A380, and Singapore is planned to start on the 1st of February 2025.
