Chicago becomes second US destination for Etihad

Etihad Airways has started non-stop operations to the US city of Chicago, with the inaugural flight taking off from the UAE capital on Wednesday.

For the flight, EY151, Etihad operated an Airbus A340-600 aircraft, which landed 14 hours later at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport where fire trucks gave it a traditional "water arch" welcome.

The new service is Etihad's third destination in North America after New York and Toronto and brings its total number of destinations to 55.

James Hogan, Etihad's chief executive, said: "We are delighted to start services to Chicago.... Chicago is set to become a key part of our global flight programme with strong traffic expected from cities across our Middle East and Indian sub-continent network."

Richard Olson, US Ambassador to the UAE, said: "The launch of this new service... is another very positive example of the strong and expanding commercial relationship that Emiratis and Americans share."

With this, Etihad now flies to North America 13 times a week: daily to New York (JFK) and three times weekly to Toronto, Canada. This will go up to 16 flights a week when the Chicago service goes to six per week at the end of October.

In July, Etihad and American Airlines announced a code-share agreement. The 'EY' code can now be seen on selected domestic and international services operated by American, and the 'AA' code has been placed on Etihad's services to North America and Europe.

The Chicago flight departs Abu Dhabi at 10.40am and arrives at O'Hare airport at 4.40pm the same day. The return flight, EY150, departs Chicago at 8.30pm and arrives in Abu Dhabi at 7.55pm the next day, all local times. Initially the flights will operate on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

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