Etihad Airways will launch daily flights from London and Manchester to Melbourne in Australia with connections through its home base in Abu Dhabi from March 2009.
The airline, which operates 17 flights a week from Heathrow and seven from Manchester, will use a three-cabin Airbus A340-600 on the flights to Melbourne, with 244 passengers in economy, 30 in business and 12 in first.
The airline announced recently that from October it will increase its Abu Dhabi to Sydney flights from seven to 11 per week.
It has recently announced orders for 100 new Airbus and Boeing wide and narrow body aircraft for delivery between 2011 and 2020.
By Linsey McNeill
