Etihad Airways began scheduled service to Dhaka on June 26, with flight EY382 departing Abu Dhabi at 22:00 on a Boeing 777 that was fully booked.
The aircraft landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport the following morning, opening a route the airline says responds to sustained demand from both travellers and cargo shippers between the UAE and Bangladesh.
The service runs four times weekly. Each flight carries 28 lie-flat Business class seats and 374 Economy seats, with widebody belly-hold space earmarked for freight.
Etihad said the cargo capacity is intended partly to support Bangladesh’s garment and textile exporters, who would gain more reliable access to markets across the Middle East, Europe and North America through Abu Dhabi.
“Our first flight to Dhaka departing fully booked speaks to the strength of the bond between the UAE and Bangladesh, and to the sustained demand we’re seeing across both passenger and cargo segments on this route. The UAE is home to one of the largest Bangladeshi communities in the world, and this service is a direct link for the families who call both countries home, as well as a gateway for the Bangladeshi diaspora across the GCC, North America and the UK travelling via Abu Dhabi,” Antonoaldo Neves, Chief Executive Officer at Etihad Airways said in a statement.
Passengers transiting through Abu Dhabi can use Etihad’s stopover programme to break the journey and spend time in the capital before connecting onward.
