Etihad Airways is providing us all with a glimmer of travel hope. From 15 May, the airline will operate a regular scheduled service from Melbourne to London Heathrow via Abu Dhabi.
Okay, so we might not be able to set off on that planned trip to the UK and Europe just yet, but this is good news for anyone who has family 16,839km away and may need to head back to the UK during these challenging times.
As well as the regular MEL-LHR route jetting off from 15 May, we will also see a return route from London Heathrow to Melbourne via Abu Dhabi reintroduced from 21 May.
The airline plans to maintain this link until it fully resumes its previous double daily connection between the two cities.
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These services complement Etihad’s existing schedule of special flights to and from Abu Dhabi to several destinations on its global network.
The route
The Melbourne – London Heathrow* via Abu Dhabi route, effective 15 May will be on EY463 from MEL 21:45 on Friday, arriving into AUH at 05:55+1 and leaving on EY19 from AUH 07:50 on Saturday, arriving into LHR at 11:15.
The London Heathrow* – Melbourne via Abu Dhabi route, effective 21 May will be on EY20 from LHR 13:30 on Thursday, arriving into AUH at 23:35 and leaving on EY460 from AUH 00:45 on Friday, arriving into MEL at 20:15.
(Local times)
* Etihad has temporarily moved its operations to Terminal 2 at London Heathrow.
Passengers will be able to fly in economy and business class.
Etihad advises all customers wishing to travel on these services to check current entry regulations for both the United Kingdom and Australia.
Etihad continues to follow UAE and international government, regulatory and health authority directives, and is playing its part in helping to limit the spread of COVID-19.
The airline has implemented an extensive sanitisation and customer safety programme and is practicing the highest standards of hygiene at every part of the customer journey. This includes catering, aircraft and cabin deep-cleaning, check-in, health screening, boarding, inflight, crew interaction, meal service, disembarkation, and ground transportation, among others.
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