It has been a long time coming, but Etihad's first commercial flights by the A350-1000 aren't far away. It won't deploy the A350 on long routes at first. Instead, it will focus on heavily demanded destinations across South Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa.

Six A350 routes to start

The first route to see Etihad's A350s will be Paris CDG on March 31st, but it's only a one-off. It'll operate EY37, leaving the UAE at 07:30 and arriving in France at 13:00 local time. Returning, EY38 will depart Paris on April 1st at 17:00, arriving home at 01:30 on the 2nd. In March and April, EY37/EY38 mainly sees the B787-10, although the B787-9 and B777-300ER operate too.

  1. Abu Dhabi to Paris CDG: a one-off service on March 31st
  2. Abu Dhabi to Istanbul: 1x daily from April 1st
  3. Abu Dhabi to Mumbai: 9x weekly from April 1st (1x daily in mid-May)
  4. Abu Dhabi to Jeddah: 6x weekly from April 3rd (11x weekly in mid-May)
  5. Abu Dhabi to Delhi: 1x daily from April 30th
  6. Abu Dhabi to Cairo: 5x weekly from May 2nd
Etihad A350
Depending on the day, Etihad will have 2x daily A350-1000 flights to Jeddah. Image: via Etihad Airways' website.

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Etihad's A350s: a summary

The smallest of the Middle East big three, Etihad has five A350-1000s, as shown below, with a further 15 on order. According to ch-aviation.com, they have 371 seats, Etihad's highest-capacity aircraft after its B777-300ERs, which will be retired soon. And they have a much longer range than similar-capacity B787-10s, helping to indicate future routes on which they'll be deployed.

  1. A6-XWA
  2. A6-XWB
  3. A6-XWC
  4. A6-XWD
  5. A6-XWE

Etihad's A350s have 44 seats in business (Collins Aerospace Super Diamond), 45 in Economy Space, and 282 in economy. There is no first class. This means that, after the B777-300ERs have gone, only one configuration of the B787-9 will have first, suggesting the future of first-class for the carrier is in doubt.

Etihad's initial A350-1000 network
Etihad's initial A350-1000 network. Image: GCMap.

Most arrived in 2019

Etihad took delivery of four A350-1000s during the summer of 2019, with its fifth (A6-XWE) arriving a year later. The unused aircraft sat in storage in Bordeaux, France, for almost two years before Etihad finally flew them to Abu Dhabi. Now they're set to enter service.

According to Flightradar24, the most recent to fly was A6-XWE. On February 21st, it undertook a circuit of Abu Dhabi as "Etihad 9101" that lasted 21 minutes. It follows similar circuits by XWA (January 1st), XWB (November 18th), and XWC (January 12th).

What are your views of where it'll be used? Are you pleased it'll finally enter service? Will you be on it? Let us know in the comments.