Etihad Airways will increase its services from Abu Dhabi to Saudi Arabia next month, providing additional flights to Jeddah for Muslims taking the annual Hajj pilgrimage. In addition to its regular daily Jeddah service, Etihad Airways will offer 11 extra flights to the city from November 2-20, 2010 offering a capacity increase of 1,600 seats during the period. The additional services will be operated by A320 and A330 aircraft.

Peter Baumgartner, Chief Commercial Officer, Etihad Airways said, “The Hajj pilgrimage is an important experience for Muslims around the world and Etihad Airways is proud to help our customers take this significant journey. The demand for Hajj flights has always been strong and we are expecting the services this year to be equally popular. In addition to carrying pilgrims from the UAE, we anticipate many Muslims will fly from around the world to Jeddah, via our home-base in Abu Dhabi.”

More than two million pilgrims take the journey every year to Saudi Arabia, which is the custodian of the two Holy Mosques in Makkah and Madinah. Makkah is located 73 kilometres inland from Jeddah, with Muslims regarding the al-Masjid al-Haram (The Sacred Mosque) as the holiest place on earth.

Etihad Airways launched daily services to Jeddah in May 2006. The airline also offers non-stop eight-flights-per-week service to the Saudi capital Riyadh, and 13 flights-per-week to Dammam.