Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways will add a second daily flight between Abu Dhabi and Chicago O’Hare this Northern Hemisphere summer season, taking the crown away from New York City as the airline’s top US gateway. The flights, which will be operated with the state-of-the-art Airbus A350-1000, will commence the second daily flight from June 15.

Despite tension escalating in the Middle East, this seems not to have deterred this airline from bolstering its services to the Windy City. Travelers departing from Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) also have the ability to pass through US Preclearance on departure, enabling the travelers to arrive in Chicago as domestic travelers and swiftly exit the airport or connect onto another flight.

Double Daily To Chicago O’Hare

Credit: Airbus

As first published by aviation insider Ishrion Aviation on X, both these services will operate on the A350-1000, which features a two-cabin layout with 371 seats onboard, including 44 business class and 327 economy class seats. The new flight, EY11 and EY12, will depart from Abu Dhabi mid-morning, for a mid-afternoon arrival in Chicago. The new return service will push back in the late evening for a mid-evening arrival into Abu Dhabi. Schedule details below:

From June 15, these double daily flights will surpass New York JFK Airport as the airline’s biggest US gateway. Etihad operates up to four additional weekly flights to its current daily service to the Big Apple, which sees a total number of 11 weekly non-stop flights. The double daily service to Chicago will see the biggest operation in the US by the airline.

The non-stop flights from Abu Dhabi will take a total of 15 hours and 40 minutes gate to gate from AUH to ORD, while the return service will take 14 hours exactly, subject to weather conditions.

Etihad Flies To Six Destinations In The United States

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The new double daily service to Chicago already complements the carrier’s existing network to six US gateways. EY operates multiple weekly flights from Abu Dhabi to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport(ATL), Boston Logan International Airport(BOS), Charlotte Douglas International Airport(CLT), Chicago O’Hare International Airport(ORD), New York JFK Airport(JFK) and Washington Dulles International Airport(IAD). While Etihad is the smaller of the ‘Big Three’ Middle Eastern carriers (behind Emirates and Qatar Airways), it will be the only airline that operates a double daily service to Chicago.

As analyzed by One Mile At A Time, the double daily service to ORD will become the second port for Etihad in the United States that sees multiple daily flights, and will now see the largest capacity in the US market for Etihad. It remains unclear why they decided on doubling operations to Chicago, rather than introducing a new destination in the US such as on the US West Coast.

For Etihad, its partnership with oneworld carrier American Airlines will undoubtedly provide sufficient connectivity for domestic and international operations from ORD, factoring into the decision to bolster operations in Chicago

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Etihad Airways History And Fleet

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Officially one of two flag carriers for the United Arab Emirates, Etihad is based out of Abu Dhabi and operates a robust network of international flights to and from Zayed International Airport. The airline, which was founded in July 2003, commenced operations later that year on November 5. It has across its history, made multiple investments in foreign airlines (such as Virgin Australia, AirBerlin, AirSerbia, Alitalia and Air Seychelles – note this list is not exhaustive). Today, the airline maintains a 51% share in Air Arabia Abu Dhabi.

According to the airline, Etihad operates a total of 128 aircraft, which include the Airbus A320neo, A320-200, A321neo, A321-200, A330-200, A350-1000, A380, and Boeing 777-300, 777F, 787-10, and 787-9. The airline also has orders for the Airbus A330-900 and Boeing 777-9.

Like Emirates, Etihad is not part of any major airline alliance; however continues to operate more than 1,000 flights a week to 120 destinations across the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, and North America.