Etihad Resumes Airbus A320 Flights To Kolkata After 3 Year COVID Absence

Etihad Airways, with one of their Airbus A320-232 aircraft, has restarted the route between Abu Dhabi and India’s financial capital of Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport (CCU). In a March 27th statement, Etihad Airways announced resuming daily connections not just between two world financial centers but also connecting Kolkata to Etihad’s hub, which has 67 destinations, 8 in India alone.

The new route and schedule

In the Etihad statement was a copy of the new route schedule, which is shared below:

The route’s reconnection to daily means that the two cities will now enjoy around 4,000 monthly seats of connection according to Cirium data.

Etihad Airways hails the 67th destination

In the March 27th statement, Arik De, Chief Revenue Officer for Etihad Airways, said:

“Riding on the resurgence of outbound travel from India, we’re delighted to resume daily flights to Kolkata, a key cultural and commercial hub in the Indian subcontinent. Re-establishing this vital air link with East India will support the growing demand from travelers in and around the region, offering them easy access to Abu Dhabi and connectivity to our global network alongside a world-class flying experience. We have been very impressed with our initial demand, which reaffirms our strategy to return to this key market.”

Photo: Etihad Airways

Indeed, the first flight had special signs and seat covers to celebrate the resumption of the route as you can see above.

Abu Dhabi offers unique opportunities

Abu Dhabi of the United Arab Emirates is an economic and entertainment center. Abu Dhabi is home to the Abu Dhabi Global Market, which offers unique financial opportunities, including the trading of digital assets.

There is also a securities exchange and many banks based there. Of course, there is something to be said even in an era of resilient videoconferencing for the personal connections of handshakes and shared experiences that keep business travel essential.

Photo: Karasev Viktor via Shutterstock

But Abu Dhabi is not all financial work and no play. Abu Dhabi has entertainment complexes as diverse as Ferrari World and Yas Waterworld, to beaches and desert – offering many vacationing opportunities.

Another draw to flying into Abu Dhabi is that there is a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facility in Abu Dhabi International Airport, the only US immigration preclearance service in the region. This will allow passengers who want to fly to the United States the ability to clear US immigration while they are still in Abu Dhabi instead of waiting in line in the United States of America.

Kolkata has similarities to Abu Dhabi

Kolkata is India’s third largest city, helped by hosting the Calcutta Stock Exchange and many business head offices. As such, Kolkata is a major center of Indian commerce and therefore similar to Abu Dhabi. Additionally the city has art exhibitions, book fairs and concerts for entertainment.

About the A320-200

The Airbus A320-200 Etihad Airways is using has the capability to fly 3,700 miles or 5,900 kilometers – far enough to connect not just Kolkata but also Moscow to Abu Dhabi. Etihad Airways has the aircraft configured to have eight business class seats and 150 economy seats.

One should also note the A320-200 was the first Airbus A320 variant to have wingtip fences and eventually sharklets. The Airbus A320-200 had over 5,000 such aircraft built before Airbus moved up to the A320neo.

Finally, as per the below tweet, the A320-200 that flew the first flight in A6-EJA is available as a model airplane:

Would you fly between Abu Dhabi and Kolkata? Please share in the comments.

Source: Britannica.com