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Etihad rejigs Australian A380 services

written by australianaviation.com.au | April 26, 2017

Etihad is starting Airbus A380 service to Sydney from June 1. (Etihad)Etihad Airways will add a second daily Airbus A380 flight to Sydney from the end of the October, but at the same time will downgauge capacity on both its twice-daily Melbourne flights.

Under its northern hemisphere winter schedule, set to take effect from October 29, Etihad will upgauge the current EY450/EY451 Abu Dhabi-Sydney-Abu Dhabi rotation from the 328-seat 777-300ER to the 496-seat A380.

“Sydney is one of our busiest and best performing long-haul routes where we have experienced increased demand, particularly in our premium cabins, since the launch 10 years ago,” Etihad Airways chief executive officer Peter Baumgartner said in a statement.

But at the same time, the Routes Online website reports that the current EY460/461 Abu Dhabi-Melbourne-Abu Dhabi A380 flights will be operated by the 777-300ER from October 29, while from the same date the current EY462/463 rotation will see two-class, 299-seat 787-9s replacing the 777-300ER.

Eithad first deployed the A380 on the Melbourne route from June last year.

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Virgin Australia codeshares on Eithad’s flights to Abu Dhabi and beyond to points in Europe.

Etihad Abu Dhabi-Sydney schedule, effective October 29
Flight No. Origin Departs Destination Arrives Frequency Aircraft
EY450 Abu Dhabi 09:25 Sydney  06:15 +1 Daily A380
EY451 Sydney 16:20 Abu Dhabi 23:55 Daily A380
EY454 Abu Dhabi 22:15 Sydney 19:15 +1 Daily A380
EY455 Sydney 21:50 Abu Dhabi 05:40 +1 Daily A380

 

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Comments (16)

  • Lechuga

    says:

    Oh how Sydney always takes good things away from everyone.

  • Will

    says:

    haha very funny and true Lechuga!

  • Rocket

    says:

    What is it with journalists and the media these days… why must they invent uses for words that were never intended or make new words out of old ones… what is wrong with saying downgrading capacity or operation smaller aircraft… why ‘upguage’ or ‘downguage’ – it just sounds like weasel word crap, seriously.
    The language is slowly being destroyed sentence by sentence… no one is affected by anything anymore, they’re ‘impacted’… a word that was never intended for that use.
    Please, it’s a great publication and we all enjoy reading it but how about just using plain English and not jumping on the weasel word bandwagon.

  • Karen Tariutriyeva

    says:

    I still don’t understand why Qatar airways doesn’t fly to Brisbane! They fly to basically every other major city in Australia but Brisbane! Can some one please explain to me why?

  • Lechuga

    says:

    ^ it’s because they’re limited to a certain amount of flights per week to Australia. Melbourne and Sydney were fairly obvious choices for them to go, and between Perth and Brisbane it was a 50/50 choice I think and they decided Perth (maybe because it’s shorter distance? I’m not sure) Adelaide on the other hand is classed as “regional” airport (im not entirely sure why) but they can fly to those as much as they want, which is also why they’re planning on flying to Canberra soon, when it changes im sure Brisbane will be on their list after they’ve given Melbourne and Sydney the 2nd daily flights they’re after.

  • Jonathan

    says:

    With a population not much less than Sydney’s, why does Melbourne not have enough passengers to make Etihad’s A380 flights profitable and result in it being downsized to the B777/B787 services from October 29?

  • Razza

    says:

    Sydney, Sydney . . .Sydney.
    Have I thrown my toys out of the pram because Sydney gets everything . . . . no because Sydney stole it

  • NJP

    says:

    No one makes profit flying empty seats – if they can sell more seats ex-Sydney than ex-Melbourne then it makes commercial sense to switch the bigger planes to Sydney.

    What is it with the Sydney v Melbourne rivalry?

  • Oskar Clare

    says:

    Brisbane will be as soon as more traffic rights are available for Qatar…

    • Tyrone

      says:

      This is incorrect as the traffic rights are going to Perth

  • Karen Tariutriyeva

    says:

    Thank you Oskar Clare,and Lechuga for explaining that info with me! I really am grateful for that! 🙂

  • Mick

    says:

    Sydney Rocks!! Woohoo

  • Speak

    says:

    @Rocket
    “Upgauge” and “downgauge” are actually the correct aviation industry terminology used when an airline retains a flight number but changes the aircraft type operating on a certain market.

    Changing capacity can also relate to adjusting frequency, while changing gauge relates solely to aircraft type while maintaining frequency.

  • David Bancell

    says:

    “downguage”????? whatthe???

    I agree with “rocket” at 7.51pm……and anyway, it is spelt wrong!!! Its “downgAUge”…… AU, NOT UA…

    next you will spelling QANTAS as QUANTAS…..ffs

  • australianaviation.com.au

    says:

    Thanks @David Bancell, the spelling errors have been corrected.

    But yes, while we do try to minimise the use of jargon, we do tend to use ‘upgauge’ and ‘downgauge’ as they are common airline industry terms.

  • Rocket

    says:

    @Speak
    Well, in my 30 plus years it was never used or spoken in that way by invented words… it has only occurred since the proliferation of weasel words has entered the language.
    You may think it’s ‘correct aviation terminology’ but it’s not, it’s just something some university educated weasel-worder thought up in a think tank. I am university educated and I don’t find it necessary to use that crappy language… which includes ‘going forward’, ‘reaching out’, ‘the aviation SPACE’ and other such nonsense.
    It’s not normal language – people don’t get home from work and say to their partner “I’m just going to transition to the cooking space so I can reach out to the family and impact them with some food going forward’. They don’t say that in normal discussion because it’s rubbish. It’s perpetuated by people to re-inforce some sort of ‘club’ that they belong to, usually dominated by incompetents. When I joined the industry and for some years after, people knew what they were doing and could easily communicate a reduction in capacity or a change of aircraft without using the word gauge. I know when it came into use, it was around the mid-nineties and used to describe a change of seating or aircraft type enroute.

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