Other Middle East and Africa Frequent Flyer Programs - Etihad to Brisbane, Australia

An air service agreement (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/06/29/1965856.htm) between Australia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) reached earlier this year is about to bear fruit.

Etihad Airways has announced it will start flights between Brisbane and Abu Dhabi in September using two Airbus aircraft.

Brisbane Airport Corporation's spokesman, Jim Carden, says the flights will boost incoming and outgoing tourism, adding much needed capacity.

"They will initially commence at three services per week and we hope that they will expand those services towards the end of the year," he said.

"The new service will take us from Brisbane to Singapore and on to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates."

China Eastern Airlines has also announced it will run flights from Shanghai to Brisbane for four months from November.

Queensland's Tourism Minister Margaret Keech says the flights via Singapore will also link south-east Queensland with the Middle East, North America, Europe, Africa and Asia.

She says the airline already flies to Sydney and Brisbane will be its second Australian port.

"It will mean more than 600 inbound seats each week will be coming into south-east Queensland," she said.

"Middle Eastern visitors stay longer and they spend a lot of money, in fact, Middle Eastern visitors are the biggest spending of any visitor to Queensland."

So 3x weekly BNE-SIN-AUH with A330-200s. Flight times yet to be announced (in addition to prices). There hasn't yet been a media release on Etihad's website.

Great news! Their Y product looks excellent and I'm sure they'll do well. Here's hoping for daily nonstop services within the near future.

:)

Cheers

Good to see Etihad expanding in Australia.

BNE-SIN must be quite a competitive route these days?

Do the A330-200's have ththe same seats as the A345/A346?

Good to see Etihad expanding in Australia.

BNE-SIN must be quite a competitive route these days?

Do the A330-200's have ththe same seats as the A345/A346?

Judging from what I've seen in terms of loads and how SQ prizes themselves on the SIN-BNE run this route won't hurt to have a little competition.

Some simple math to demonstrate: Scandinavia-SIN-BNE on SQ, including addons in Europe with SK, all in C-class runs up to about 3500USD, about 500 of this is SK's money, and SIN-BNE on it's own (or even BKK-SIN-BNE) is priced at almost 3000USD itself in C-class.

Also, loads are always good both up front and in the back, so I'm sure getting more seats into BNE is a nice thing.

-A

PS: Anyone know if QR is considering BNE?

Interesting news. AUH-SIN-BNE. I presume its a 2 class aircraft. I think with 3 times weekly, its hard to compete for premium traffic. Also, I think the A332 has go less seats than the A345/346 as it is much shorter.

Interesting news. AUH-SIN-BNE. I presume its a 2 class aircraft. I think with 3 times weekly, its hard to compete for premium traffic. Also, I think the A332 has go less seats than the A345/346 as it is much shorter.

I think he/she might refer to same seat type/layout, the aircraft are definately of different sizes. :)

-A

I think he/she might refer to same seat type/layout, the aircraft are definately of different sizes. :)

-A

Yea. I agree. But I think no matter how you arrange it the A346 still has got more seats.

From what I gather, flights will be timed to connect with European connections at their AUH hub. The flights will also be operating out of Terminal 2 in Singapore, unlike EK and QR which uses Terminal 1.

Fares are now up at bestflights:

http://www.bestflights.com.au/cgi-bin/05_201_e/flights?maindetails=7643

Etihad Airways have announced they will soon be flying out of Brisbane and to celebrate we've got these fabulous fares! The flights out of Sydney have been hugely popular and now it's Brisbane's turn! Travel to 1 of 11 destinations between September - November and SAVE! Book yours NOW - sale ends 31st August.

You will fly with Etihad Airways from Brisbane to Abu Dhabi via Singapore and then on to any of the following...

Zone 1 London - Paris - Brussels - Geneva - Frankfurt - Manchester - Munich - Casablanca - Dubin - Milan
AU $1329 + tax

Zone 2 Cairo
AU $1429 + tax

Stopovers are permitted in Singapore & Abu Dhabi in each direction.

There is a maximum stay away of 3 months.

Fare Brisbane to Singapore is up now:

http://www.bestflights.com.au/cgi-bin/209/flights?maindetails=3690

From $679 return plus tax.

Interesting. Just wondering if 679 from BNE is considered cheap? What is the average fare for BNE-SIN. Also, SIN has been loaded in the booking tool.

679 isn't too bad. I don't think you can actually book the fare yet though.

NB, looks like Etihad are expanding in Aus/NZ, and BNE, MEL, AKL and SYD will all be on Etihad's routes soon:

http://www.aviationaustralia.net.au/index.php?home/item/326
http://jobs.seek.com.au/users/apply/index.ascx?Sequence=91&PageNumber=1&JobID=9870894

Yea. The fare is still not bookable. But SIN is now an option in the booking tool.

Rules are now up:

http://www.etihadairways.com/etihadairways/ApplicationTemplate/MCMSPromotionPreview.aspx?NRMODE=Published&NRNODEGUID=%7b4BB58977-C6AF-4912-A20E-165094049584%7d&NRORIGINALURL=%2fetihadairways%2fau%2fen%2fhome%2f promotiondetails%3fProm_Id%3d158%26viewmore%3dVRNR C&NRCACHEHINT=NoModifyGuest&Prom_Id=158&viewmore=VRNRC#

No stopovers allowed. Must be booked at etihadairways.com. This is probably because the BNE offices haven't been set up yet.

Can seem to book flights without any "issues" or "hassles" now...

Etihad will be increasing capacity about 1 month after the inaugural flights starts (28SEP AUH-SIN-BNE) switching from 332 to the 77W. This means about an extra 100Y seats will be added to BNE-SIN-AUH market which is quite a leap in capacity.

EY's new A340-600s will operate 3 BNE service during NOV, probably due to route testing or high loads.

Rgds

EY has started promoting the 1st birthday of Etihad Guest - and a Brisbane trip (http://www.etihadairways.com/etihadairways/global/en/guestrecognition/visitor/BirthdayBonanza.htm) is up for auction (of EY miles), from any EY destination - somewhere like DUB or LHR-BNE would be a good trip.

Any takers? FTers should have a few miles stashed, hey CJ?

Up for grabs is a dream package including two return tickets to Brisbane from any Etihad destination and a luxurious 2-night stay for two, with a sumptuous breakfast thrown in, at the exclusive Conrad Treasury Brisbane, a Hilton property. All you have to do is use your Etihad Guest Miles to place your bid for this golden opportunity. (http://www.etihadairways.com/etihadairways/global/en/guestrecognition/visitor/BidforBrisbane.htm) The auction ends on September 30, 2007

Not much use for us in BNE. :) If a FTer wins, do visit the FT AGM in the BNE QP (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=721801) if your dates line up.

NB, there is an Etihad BNE-SIN companion fare (http://www.bestflights.com.au/cgi-bin/209/flights?maindetails=3829) that is fairly cheap. Around AU$500/pp, return inc taxes.