Airlines have started several new routes that will increase summer travel options for travellers from the Middle East.
This week, Etihad Regional (www.etihadregional.com) started a three-times-per-week service from Zurich, Switzerland, to Turin, Italy, with prices on this and other routes starting at 69 Swiss francs (Dh285), one-way, including taxes. Etihad Regional is a new European brand operated by Darwin Airline, a Swiss-based regional carrier. It serves a range of key secondary cities in Europe and offers long-haul and international destinations across Europe, Australia, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas through Etihad Airways, its code-share partner. The airline currently operates a fleet of eight small, 50-seat, turboprop aircraft to a network stretching from southern Italy to the United Kingdom. The airline's main hub is Geneva.
Turin, a major cultural and business centre in northern Italy, is close to the Alps and the border with France, and will be used by both business and leisure travellers. It will also help facilitate the increasingly popular tendency for UAE travellers to travel around within Europe, especially during summer. It will complement the launch of a direct Etihad route from Abu Dhabi to Zurich on June 1 (fares start at Dh2,390 return, including taxes, booking online by May 31 for travel from June 1to 17).
Also this week, Turkish Airlines (www.turkishairlines.com) launched a direct flight from Istanbul to Boston in the United States. There are currently five flights a week from Istanbul to Boston, but this will increase to seven flights per week from June 9. The airline now flies to a total of 248 destinations worldwide. Return flights start at Dh2,852, including taxes.
Etihad will launch direct flights to Los Angeles from June 1 (fares from Dh7,065 return, including taxes; flight time 16.5 hours), Yerevan, Armenia from July 2 (fares from Dh1,565 return, including taxes) and Rome and Perth on July 15 (from Dh2,690 and Dh6,865 respectively, return, including taxes; the Perth flight is 11 hours 30 minutes).
Emirates Airline (www.emirates.com) also has a number of flight offers for bookings made before May 31, including Nairobi from Dh1,605, Moscow from Dh2,195 and New York from Dh5,005, all return, including taxes, for travel until July 22. Emirates will also launch a direct route to Chicago on August 5; flights cost from Dh6,635 return, including taxes, and the flight time is 14 hours.
[ rbehan@thenational.ae ]
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