Etihad Airways today opened a new dedicated aircraft line maintenance facility at Sydney airport, the first of its kind outside the airline�s home base of Abu Dhabi.

One of four stations set to open outside Abu Dhabi this year, the new facility is equipped with the latest technology and equipment which will be used for all day-to-day technical line maintenance on Etihad aircraft including hydraulic, structural and instrument checks.

Cramer Ball, Etihad Airways manager for Australasia said: The new maintenance facility will provide vital support to our expansion plans in Australia. Our daily Sydney service will increase to 11 weekly flights from 31 October 2008 and we are finalising plans to start flights to a third destination in Australia in the first quarter of next year.�

Using the most sophisticated software, hardware and equipment in the aviation industry, the new facility will assist Etihad to continue the airline�s rate of expansion and improve punctuality and performance of its aircraft.

The new Etihad technical line maintenance facility will operate seven days a week, with four engineers, and four mechanics available to service the aircraft.

Etihad Airways recently celebrated its first anniversary of services to Australia. During the year the airline recorded very strong growth and saw more than 100,000 passengers fly with the airline and the number of flights to and from Australia more than triple.

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Photo caption: Etihad staff celebrating the opening of the new technical line maintenance facility (from left to right: Chenoa Gallo (Guest Service Agent), Bob Oades (Manager Line Maintenance International), Jeffrey Wilkinson (Vice President � Maintenance), John Harvey (Regional Maintenance Manager Asia & Pacific) and George Shiber (Airport Services Supervisor)

About Etihad Airways

Etihad Airways is the national airline of the United Arab Emirates based in the UAE�s capital, Abu Dhabi. Currently Etihad offers flights to 45 destinations in the Middle East, Europe, North America, Africa, Asia and Australia.

For further details: Etihad Press Office

Tel: +614 14 073 752 Email: etihad@hillandknowlton.com.au

Sydney route

Etihad flight EY451 departs Sydney at 3:15pm and arrives at Abu Dhabi at 12.05am. The return flight EY450 departs from Abu Dhabi at 10.10am arriving in Sydney at 06.15am the following day. All times are local.

Brisbane route

Flight EY473 began Brisbane operations on 29 September 2007, with flights departing at 12.40pm every Saturday, Monday and Thursday, and arriving in Singapore at 6.30pm.

Following a short transit time, the flight departs Singapore at 7.50pm and arrives in Abu Dhabi at 11.45pm (all local times). This allows convenient onwards connections to a number of destinations including London Heathrow.

For return services, flight EY470 operates every Friday, Sunday and Wednesday, departing Abu Dhabi at 10.15am, arriving in Singapore at 9.45pm.

The flight departs from Singapore at 11.10pm arriving in Brisbane at 8.50am the following morning (all local times).