Just yesterday Etihad said they will no longer send the A380 to Melbourne and now we know where the A380 will be going. Effective October 29th (yes, the same day Melbourne get’s theirs taken away) Etihad will commence the second daily A380 aircraft into Sydney from Abu Dhabi.
Etihad A380 In Sydney
Etihad’s second A380 will be operating the EY450/451 service which is currently being operated by a 777-300ER. This is an excellent aircraft swap especially if you’re in a premium cabin. EY451 leaves Sydney at 3:20 pm local time and arrives into Abu Dhabi at 11:55 pm local time. Flying all day in a premium product is much more worth it than flying overnight.
For passengers, this is awesome news!
Passengers wishing to fly in the Residence now have two choices of when they’d like to depart. If I were to do it again, I’d definitely take the afternoon service.
Etihad Residence Living Room
On top of that, passengers redeeming for First and Business Class will find it much easier to find award seats. I’m very glad that Sydney is getting another A380 and it means more options for passengers.
Etihad A380 Apartments
Sydney isn’t the first destination to receive 2 A380’s. From June 1st New York will have double daily and London will have three daily A380 services, that means flying you can fly from Sydney all the way to either London or New York in luxury without having long stopovers.
The 777 features Etihad’s older Business, First Class and Economy products so this really is a massive improvement. Here’s how many seats are being added with the A380, The A380 features 1 more First seat than the 777, 30 more Business seats than the 777 and 133 more Economy seats than the 777.
Etihad A380 Business Class
Passengers in the Residence, First and Business may also enjoy the Lobby area which is in between Business and First Class. This previously wasn’t offered on the 777.
Post from RICOH THETA. – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA
I’ve just got one question…
I very briefly talked about the Sydney lounge yesterday and wanted to quickly touch on that. Sydney will be the only lounge that receives 2 A380’s but doesn’t have a Residence lounge, do you think Etihad will upgrade or build a new lounge? Both London and New York have one.
Etihad Lounge Sydney (Image – Etihad)
The aircraft swap is also a mark of celebrating 10 years of operations to Australia. I think this is fantastic news for both the airline and passengers. Passengers will receive a much newer and enhanced product and it’s good to see the airline doing well on the route.
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