São Paulo – The United Arab Emirates-based Etihad Airways will fly to Brazil starting in 2013. According to news aired on the company’s website on Monday (4th), a direct flight between Abu Dhabi and São Paulo will start operating on June 1st next year. It will be Etihad’s first destination in South America.
According to the company’s president and CEO, James Hogan, the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, the near-200 million-strong population, and steady economic growth have made the country into a “logical” destination for Etihad. Business and tourism flows between the United Arab Emirates and Brazil have been growing and will be strengthened by our daily direct flights,” he said.
The flight will be operated by an Airbus A340-600, configured into three classes. There will be 12 first-class, 32 executive class and 248 economy class seats. Brazil is the only country in the Bric group – which also comprises Russia, India and China – to which Etihad does not fly yet. However, the company has over 50 Brazilians among its staff. Of those, 18 are pilots and 27 are flight attendants, all based in the United Arab Emirates.
The new flight is part of a plan to expand the company’s global network. Etihad’s goal is to fly to more than 100 destinations with over 150 aircraft by 2020. In 2012, new flights were announced to Washington (USA), Basra (Iraq), Lagos (Nigeria), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Ahmedabad (India) and Vietnam.
Etihad was established in 2003 in Abu Dhabi. Another airline based in the country, Dubai’s Emirates Airline, already flies to São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro on a daily basis. Qatar Airways also operates a daily direct flight between Doha and São Paulo.
Etihad owns a 30% stake in the German low-cost airline airberlin and a 40% stake in Air Seychelles. In December 2011, Etihad announced the purchase of 10 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft and two Boeing 777 freighters, at a total of US$ 2.8 billion.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
