Etihad Airways, the national carrier of the UAE, on the night of March 26th touched down in Kolkata as the airline made its much-anticipated return to the city. With a total of seven weekly nonstop services, the airline will once again connect the City of Joy, with the world through Abu Dhabi.
The first flight on the new service, EY256, departed Abu Dhabi with a full load of passengers at 1:50 pm local time on 26 March and touched down at Kolkata’s Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Airport last night at 8:10 pm local time.
Upon arrival in Kolkata, passengers were welcomed with a cake-cutting ceremony and a celebration attended by Etihad and Kolkata Airport Executives. The return flight, EY257, departed Kolkata at 9:05 pm local time on 26 March, landing in Abu Dhabi shortly after midnight.
Arik De, Chief Revenue Officer, 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.”
The flights will be operated with an Airbus A320 aircraft, offering Etihad’s award-winning service to guests in 8 seats in Business Class and 150 in Economy, convenient flight timings to the UAE’s capital city and seamless connections to destinations across the airline’s growing global network of 67 destinations.
Etihad passengers flying from Kolkata to the United States can benefit from the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facility in Abu Dhabi International Airport, the only US immigration preclearance service in the region that allows passengers to clear US immigration while they are still in Abu Dhabi, meaning travellers can get home quicker and easier.