Etihad Airways is increasing capacity between its Abu Dhabi hub and key markets of Amman, Beirut, Cairo, Casablanca and Rabat to cater to the peak June–September travel period, while additional services to Dammam will be year-round. Extra flights and the deployment of bigger aircraft in the Middle East and North Africa will provide local guests with more choice and greater convenience traveling during the holiday season. Details are: nDammam: 4th new daily flight; Amman: 2nd new daily flight; Beirut: 4 new flights a week and introduction of Boeing 787; Cairo: 5th new daily flight; Casablanca: aircraft upgrade to Airbus A340 and Rabat: one extra weekly flight Dammam in Saudi Arabia will initially be served with an additional three morning flights a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from June 26, rising to a daily service on July 9. The capacity increase to the largest city in the Kingdom's Eastern Province will raise frequency on the route to four daily services year-round. With the Amman route already upgraded to a Boeing 787 on each of the current daily services, an additional daily early morning flight serving the Jordanian capital will operate between June 25 and Sept. 30. Four extra flights will be introduced on the Beirut route on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays between Aug. 1 and Sept. 10, taking frequency up from seven to 11 services a week. Effective Aug. 1, seven of the flights to Lebanon's capital city will operate with the state-of-the-art Boeing 787 featuring 299 seats. Egypt's capital Cairo, one of Etihad Airways' most popular North African destinations, will have an additional seven midday flights a week, taking frequency up to five daily services between Augl 1 and Sept.10. In Morocco, the daily Casablanca services will be upgraded from an Airbus A330-300 to A340-600 aircraft between Aug. 1 and Sept. 10. And frequency to Morocco's capital city of Rabat will increase from two to three flights a week with a new Sunday service operating between Aug. 6 and Sept. 3. Peter Baumgartner, Etihad Airways chief executive officer, said: "As we build up to the peak travel season and well into the holiday period, we are delighted to provide our local guests more choice with additional flights between Abu Dhabi and some of our key markets across the Middle East and North Africa. "By further aligning our capacity with demand during the busy upcoming months, the extra services will help facilitate our guests' travel to and from these cities and our popular connecting destinations in the GCC, Asia, Australia and the Indian Subcontinent." Etihad Aviation Group (EAG) is a diversified global aviation and travel group comprising five business divisions – Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, Etihad Airways Engineering, Etihad Airport Services, Hala Group and Airline Equity Partners. The group has minority investments in seven airlines: airberlin, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Alitalia, Jet Airways, Virgin Australia, and Swiss-based Darwin Airline, trading as Etihad Regional. From its Abu Dhabi base, Etihad Airways flies to, or has announced plans to serve, more than 110 passenger and cargo destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas. The airline has a fleet of over 120 Airbus and Boeing aircraft, with 204 aircraft on firm order, including 71 Boeing 787s, 25 Boeing 777Xs, 62 Airbus A350s and 10 Airbus A380s. — SG
