Alitalia (3rd) (Rome) has issued this announcement on new Venice-Abu Dhabi service in connection with Etihad Airways (Abu Dhabi) :

Venice – Abu Dhabi is set to be the first new route opened by the new Alitalia since the January 1, 2015 launch of operations, after Etihad Airways acquired a 49% stake in the company.

The daily connection was presented to business leaders, media and other institutions in Venice today by Alitalia’s Chairman Luca di Montezemolo and CEO Silvano Cassano, together with Enrico Marchi, Chairman of the SAVE Group – Venice Airport, and Peter Baumgartner, Chief Commercial Officer of Etihad Airways, the strategic equity and codeshare partner of Alitalia, which has added its ‘EY’ code to the service.

Alitalia will reinforce its presence in Italy’s North Eastern airports with the new route, reaching a total of 89 weekly connections from Venice (64) and Verona (25). From Venice alone, Alitalia will offer approximately 600,000 seats on direct flights during the summer season for air transportation (March-October), including those on partner airlines, to Rome, Berlin, Dusseldorf, Paris, Amsterdam, Moscow and Tirana.

The new connections with Abu Dhabi will strengthen Alitalia’s intercontinental offering, allowing passengers departing from North Eastern Italy to reach not just the United Arab Emirates, but continue, thanks to Etihad Airways’ extensive global connections, to 30 destinations in the Middle East (Bahrain, Muscat, Kuwait, Dubai and Al Ain), Africa (Johannesburg, Nairobi and Khartoum), the Indian Subcontinent (Mumbai, Kochi, Delhi, Bangalore, Karachi, Lahore, Dacca, Malè, Seychelles and Colombo), Asia (Beijing, Seoul, Phuket, Chengdu, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Jakarta) and Australia (Melbourne, Sydney and Perth).

The Venice-Abu Dhabi flight will take off on March 29, 2015. Simultaneously, Alitalia will also launch a new flight from Milan Malpensa Airport to the capital of the United Arab Emirates, tripling the number of its flights for Abu Dhabi, which will reach a total of 42 weekly flights.

From Venice’s Marco Polo airport, the first Alitalia flight for Abu Dhabi will take off this Sunday, March 29, at 9:55 pm, landing in Abu Dhabi at 5:55 am (local time) on the following day.

Flights from Abu Dhabi to Venice will depart at 9:05 am (local time) to arrive at the Marco Polo Airport at 1:35 pm. The service will be operated using a 250-seat Airbus A330 aircraft, arranged in three service classes: Magnifica (business class), Classica Plus (premium economy) and Classica (economy).

Copyright Photo: Fred Freketic/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A330-202 EI-EJM (msn 1308) in the promotional Expo Milano 2015 special livery approaches the runway at JFK International Airport in New York.

Alitalia aircraft slide show: