Etihad Airways today has commenced non-stop service between Abu Dhabi and Washington D.C.
The 15 hour flight(EY131) will depart Abu Dhabi International Airport at 10:00AM and arrive at Dulles at 5:00PM. The returning flight(EY130) will depart Dulles at 10:15 and arrive back in Abu Dhabi 7:45PM the next day.
The route will be served by the ultra-long range Airbus A340-500 aircraft seating passengers in a three-class cabin.
Etihad Airbus A340-500 arrival at Dulles. Photo courtesy Etihad Airways
Earlier this morning jetblue(n821jb) Blue Yorker took to the skies off the coast of Long Island to test test out the newly retrofitted Sharklets. Pictured below returning assumed on a successful first flight.
Today jetblue airways introduced its first Airbus A320 aircraft to be fitted with Sharklet technology. At an event at John F. Kennedy Airport the airline celebrated becoming the first North Ametican carrier to operate a Sharklet equipped aircraft. jetblue also becomes the first airline in the world to install the Sharklets as a retrofit.
jetblue expects to retrofit five aircraft in 2013 while also taking delivery of seven brand new aircraft which will already have the Sharklets installed from the production line. The Sharklets should produce better fuel efficiency and the airline hopes to get up to a three percent less fuel burn on long haul flights. jetblue expects to save $350,000 per aircraft per year and $45 million per year fleet wide.
Complete retrofit of Sharlet technology on jetblue's entire fleet is not expected to be completed until 2016 or 2017
