Etihad Has Added A 4th Airbus A380 Destination

Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways
has reconfirmed that Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport
(CDG) will be its 4th Airbus A380
destination from November 1st. The airline will make the route double daily from January 15th, additionally placing the Boeing 787-9 on the route.

Etihad Airways

IATA/ICAO Code

EY/ETD

Year Founded

2003

CEO

Antonoaldo Neves

Loyalty Program

Etihad Guest

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At one point at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, it looked as though Etihad would never return the giant Airbus A380 to service, though then CEO Tony Douglas kept saying “never say never” about the type’s return. Thankfully for fans of the super-jumbo, the aircraft did return, and
we were on its re-inaugural flight last summer
.

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

The Etihad A380 is returning to Paris

The Etihad Airways Airbus A380 will be returning to Paris on November 1st, replacing the Airbus A350 that debuted on the route in March 2022 (
Simple Flying’s Joanna Bailey was on that flight
). The flight is set to follow the following schedule,

From January 15th, the following rotation will also be added to the schedule,

The fourth Etihad Airbus A380 route

With the return of the Etihad Airways Airbus A380 to Paris, the airline will have four Airbus A380 routes. According to aviation data experts Cirium, the airline will operate a total of 125 Airbus A380 rotations from Abu Dhabi in November as follows,

• Mumbai, India (BOM) – 13
• Paris, France (CDG) – 30
• New York, United States (JFK) – 30
• London Heathrow, United Kingdom – 52

According to Cirium’s data, the most destinations that Etihad has flown the Airbus A380 to simultaneously is five, meaning that the network has almost fully recovered, albeit at lower frequencies. The graph below compares the number of flights that Etihad scheduled for the Airbus A380 each month (shown on the right axis) against the number of destinations served (on the left axis). The airline will only operate at around half of its pre-pandemic A380 frequency by the end of the year.

Data: Cirium | Graph: Simple Flying

How many Etihad A380s are now flying?

According to Cirium’s fleet data, Etihad Airways has ten Airbus A380s. It owns eight of them, while Baz Aircraft Leasing One owns the other two. As things stand, the airline’s four youngest A380s are in service. This includes the two leased aircraft. A further stored aircraft (A6-APF) was ferried to Abu Dhabi in mid-June and is scheduled to return to service on November 15th. The final five remain in storage in Europe, with two in Teruel, Spain, and three in Tarbes, France.