Etihad Airways will launch direct flights to Sana’a, Yemen’s political and commercial capital, on 1st September 2013. Sana’a will be the airline’s eighth destination on the Arabian Peninsula beyond Abu Dhabi, joining Bahrain, Dammam, Doha, Jeddah, Kuwait, Muscat and Riyadh. Flights to Sana’a will operate four times a week.
The route will be operated by a two-class A320 with 16 seats in Pearl Business Class and 120 seats in Coral Economy Class.
James Hogan, Etihad’s President and Chief Executive, said: “The launch of direct services to Sana’a is consistent with our strategy of adding depth and scale to our network and targeting areas of growth in emerging markets. The ancestral, cultural and business ties between the two countries are significant, and we believe the new service will further facilitate Yemen’s economic development in the months and years ahead.”
More than 90,000 Yemini nationals live in the UAE, and the country is Yemen’s largest regional trading partner with annual trade valued at over US$2 billion, of which US$1.6 billion is made up of UAE exports. Overall, the UAE accounts for almost 20% of Yemen’s total imports.
