Etihad Airways has launched a second daily non-stop service between Melbourne and Abu Dhabi.

Flight EY462 departs Abu Dhabi at 1030 local time, touching down in Melbourne at 0605 the next morning. The return leg, flight EY463 leaves Melbourne at 1500 and arrives in Abu Dhabi at 2305 that night.

The new service is operated by a three-class Boeing 777-300ER aircraft featuring eight seats in First Class, 40 in Business Class, and 280 in Economy Class.

The flight complements the airline’s existing daily non-stop B777 service between the two cities.

“Becoming the only airline to offer double-daily non-stop flights between Melbourne and the UAE clearly demonstrates our ongoing commitment to Victoria and exponentially increase the attractiveness of our customer proposition,” said the airline’s president and CEO, James Hogan.

“From August 1, we will connect more international visitors to Melbourne from more markets in the Middle East and Europe and will offer Melbournians the convenience of two daily departures and one-stop connectivity to more than 50 great destinations.”

Etihad Airways will now offer seamless connectivity between Melbourne and popular destinations such as Edinburgh, Geneva, Madrid and Zurich on the Etihad network; Stuttgart and Vienna with Air Berlin codeshares; and Venice through Alitalia codeshares; as well as improved connectivity to  destinations like Athens and Brussels.

The airline will also offer double-daily connectivity between Melbourne and key destinations like Manchester, Dublin, Beirut and London, where passengers can experience Etihad Airways’ flagship A380 aircraft. Also on offer are double-daily connections to Rome and Milan with Alitalia; Berlin and Dusseldorf with Airberlin; and Belgrade with Air Serbia.

The new double-daily schedule increases the total number of non-stop weekly return flights the airline operates between its four Australian gateways to 39. The airline flies daily from Brisbane and Perth and offers double-daily flights from Sydney – 11 of which are operated by Etihad, and the remainder operated by Virgin Australia. www.etihad.com