Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, today announced it would commence services to Chengdu and Shanghai – both subject to government approval. Flights to Shanghai will commence from March 1, 2012, while flights to Chengdu will begin from December 15, 2011.

Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province and Shanghai, the federal capital, will be connected to the airline’s hub and home base in Abu Dhabi with daily non-stop return services to Shanghai and four flights per week to Chengdu. The new flights will make Shanghai the airline’s 70^th global destination.

Etihad will operate an Airbus A330-200 aircraft in a two-class configuration on the sector – offering 22 Pearl Business class and 240 Coral Economy class seats on both these routes. Etihad Airways currently operates daily flights to and from Abu Dhabi via Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.