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Etihad begins Charlotte service with subdued launch, skipping ceremony amid Middle East tensions
Flight attendants wait to board Etihad Airways’ inaugural flight from Charlotte to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Ted Reed for The Charlotte Ledger)
by Ted Reed
Etihad Airways’ inaugural flight to Charlotte got a water gun salute as it arrived on Friday, but recognizing the situation in the Middle East, the airport and the airline decided to skip any ceremony for the first departure.
About 105 passengers boarded Flight 16 for Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, scheduled to depart at 2:10 p.m. Boarding went smoothly, but the flight departed late, at about 3 p.m. Among the passengers, about a dozen women wore hijabs, and one man wore a Yankee hat. Before the passengers boarded, 14 flight attendants and four pilots boarded for the 14-plus-hour-flight.
The flight was a historic one for Charlotte Douglas International Airport. It marked the first scheduled service of the Airbus A350-1000 in the airport’s history. The aircraft, one of the largest and most advanced long-haul passenger jets, seats 371. As it sat at the gate awaiting boarding, slightly delayed for cleaning after a late arrival, an American Airlines 321, departing a nearby gate, seemed to pass beneath its wing.
The arrival of Etihad Airlines’ first flight to CLT was marked with a water salute, which is a traditional ceremonial welcome. (Photo courtesy of Charlotte Douglas International Airport)
“Today’s inaugural nonstop flight to Abu Dhabi brings the world closer to Charlotte,” said Ted Kaplan, the airport’s chief business and innovation officer, said in a prepared statement. “This route offers our passengers faster, seamless connections to the Middle East, India and Southeast Asia, while reinforcing Charlotte’s role as a global gateway and driver of economic growth.”
The flight will operate from CLT four times a week.
Etihad has an interline agreement with American Airlines, which operates its second-largest hub at Charlotte. The agreement enables passengers to seamlessly connect. It was unclear how passengers were connecting and how many originated in Charlotte.
Ted Reed, a former Miami Herald and Charlotte Observer reporter, is the author of “American Airlines, US Airways and the Creation of the World's Largest Airline.”