Published: 2026-09-09
Etihad Airways will fly from Abu Dhabi to Red Sea International Airport in Saudi Arabia from Sunday 4 October 2026, all year round. The airline announced the route on Tuesday 8 September 2026: one flight a week on Sundays at first, two a week on Thursdays and Sundays from 25 October, on an Airbus A320 with 8 seats in Business and 150 in Economy. Flight EY621 leaves Abu Dhabi at 09:55 and lands at 12:05 local time; EY622 departs at 14:00 and is back in Abu Dhabi at 18:05, so the journey takes a little over three hours. The Red Sea becomes Etihad’s sixth destination in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Medina and Al Qassim, and the first one built around leisure rather than corporate, family or religious travel. Tickets are already on sale. Below we set out the timetable, the airport and the destination, and what the route changes for travel companies, corporate travel managers and employees in the UAE.
What Etihad announced on 8 September 2026
The announcement was made by Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi on 8 September 2026 and carried the same evening by the Emirates News Agency (WAM) and Gulf News. The airline adds Red Sea International Airport, IATA code RSI, in Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk Province to its network as a year-round destination, not a seasonal one. The service starts on 4 October 2026 with one weekly rotation on Sundays and doubles from 25 October to Thursdays and Sundays. The aircraft is the Airbus A320 in a two-class layout: 8 seats in Business and 150 in Economy, 158 in total.
Antonoaldo Neves, Chief Executive Officer of Etihad Airways, explained the logic of the route: the kind of holiday people normally take a long-haul flight for, islands, reefs and relaxation, is now a short flight from Abu Dhabi and a single connection from anywhere across the airline’s network. He added that Etihad wants to be present early in the destinations its guests will want next, and that the Red Sea is an easy one to reach: the holiday starts on the day guests arrive, not the day after.
Saudi Arabia is one of Etihad’s largest markets. The five existing destinations, Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Medina and Al Qassim, serve corporate travel, families and pilgrims. The Red Sea is the first Saudi point in the network chosen for holidays: an airport built inside a resort destination, with hotels a short transfer from the terminal. The launch continues a year of network growth for the airline: earlier in 2026 Etihad opened a West Africa corridor with Africa World Airlines, and on 2 September it made its new Abu Dhabi-Gothenburg route year-round after three weeks of sales.
Flight schedule: EY621 and EY622
The timetable published for the launch period is below. Times are local: the UAE is on UTC+4 and Saudi Arabia on UTC+3, so the clock goes back one hour on the way out and forward one hour on the way back.
| Flight | From | Departs | To | Arrives | Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EY621 | Abu Dhabi (AUH) | 09:55 | Red Sea (RSI) | 12:05 | Sun from 4 October; Thu and Sun from 25 October |
| EY622 | Red Sea (RSI) | 14:00 | Abu Dhabi (AUH) | 18:05 | Sun from 4 October; Thu and Sun from 25 October |
From 25 October the outbound departure moves ten minutes earlier, to 09:45; the arrival time for the winter period is shown in the booking system. By the timetable EY621 spends about 3 hours 10 minutes in the air and EY622 about 3 hours 5 minutes, which matches the airline’s description of a flight of just over three hours. The aircraft turns around at Red Sea International in under two hours and is back in Abu Dhabi in the early evening.
Two weekly rotations on Thursday and Sunday allow two natural travel patterns from the UAE. A Thursday departure and a Sunday return give a three-night long weekend that fits the Saturday and Sunday weekend of most UAE employers. A Sunday departure and a Thursday return give a four-night stay in the middle of the week, the pattern typical for corporate offsites and incentive groups. With 158 seats per flight and two flights a week, the route offers 316 seats a week in each direction, which is why group bookings for the winter season are better made early.
The airport: Red Sea International
Red Sea International Airport stands at Hanak in Tabuk Province on Saudi Arabia’s north-western coast and is operated by Red Sea Global, the developer of the destination. It opened in September 2023 with Saudia flights from Riyadh; the first international flight arrived from Dubai on 18 April 2024, operated by flydubai twice a week on Thursdays and Sundays. The terminal was designed by Foster + Partners and is planned for one million passengers a year by 2030; the airport has a 3,700-metre runway and a dedicated water runway for seaplanes.
For a traveller from the UAE this means two departure airports: Dubai International with flydubai since April 2024 and, from 4 October 2026, Abu Dhabi with Etihad. The point of the airport is its location. It sits inside the destination, so the transfer to a hotel is a short drive, a boat ride or a seaplane hop, not a road journey of several hours from Jeddah or Tabuk. That is also the argument behind the sixth Saudi destination: a holiday that starts on the day of arrival.
The destination: more than 90 islands and a coral reef system
The Red Sea is the flagship project of Red Sea Global, a developer owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Etihad describes the destination as more than 90 islands within one of the world’s largest coral reef systems, flanked by mangroves, lava fields and the mountains of the Hejaz. According to Red Sea Global, the destination covers about 28,000 square kilometres of coast, desert and mountains. Resorts already open include Six Senses Southern Dunes in the desert, the St. Regis Red Sea Resort and Nujuma, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, on the islands, Shebara Resort with its overwater villas and Desert Rock in a mountain valley. Two of the destination’s resorts were the first in the world to receive the DarkSky Approved Resort certification for the protection of the night sky.
For the UAE traveller the pitch is simple: islands and reefs in the neighbouring time zone and three hours away, without the long-haul flight to the Maldives or the Indian Ocean. For Etihad it is a market the airline says it wants to enter early, before demand peaks.
Etihad’s Saudi network after the launch
With the new route Etihad serves six airports in Saudi Arabia from its Abu Dhabi hub:
- Riyadh, the capital and the main corporate market;
- Jeddah, the commercial centre on the Red Sea coast and the gateway for Umrah and Hajj;
- Dammam, the Eastern Province and the oil and industrial belt;
- Medina, the second holy city;
- Al Qassim, the agricultural region in the centre of the kingdom;
- Red Sea International, the resort destination in Tabuk Province, from 4 October 2026.
The first five are routes for business, family and religious travel. The sixth is the first built for holidays, and Etihad treats it as a permanent part of the network rather than a winter experiment.
Connections: one stop in Abu Dhabi
The schedule is built around Zayed International Airport as a hub. Etihad says guests from across its network, including the Gulf and the Indian subcontinent, reach the Red Sea with a single connection in Abu Dhabi. The 09:55 departure allows connections from the morning arrivals into Abu Dhabi, and the 18:05 arrival on the way back sits ahead of the evening wave of departures to India, Pakistan and South-East Asia. Travellers who want two destinations in one trip can add the Abu Dhabi Stopover programme, which offers up to two free hotel nights in the UAE capital. In the wider region Dubai International remains the most connected airport in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, and the Red Sea route gives Abu Dhabi one more leisure destination of its own.
What the route means for business in the UAE
- Travel agencies and destination management companies. A new product with two departure points, DXB with flydubai and AUH with Etihad, that can be sold as a stand-alone island holiday or as a twin-centre trip with Abu Dhabi. The Thursday to Sunday pattern packages as a long weekend for UAE residents; the Sunday to Thursday pattern as a mid-week retreat for international clients arriving through Abu Dhabi.
- Corporate travel and HR. A three-hour flight puts a premium resort destination within reach of company offsites, incentive trips and executive retreats without a long-haul budget. Capacity is limited: 316 seats a week in each direction from 25 October, so group blocks should be reserved with the airline in advance.
- Suppliers to hospitality. Red Sea Global’s resorts, the airport and the marinas form a client base three hours from Abu Dhabi for UAE companies in food and beverage, facility services, marine leisure, events and design. Selling into Saudi Arabia still requires a Saudi commercial registration or a local distributor and export paperwork from the UAE, so the flight shortens the sales visit, not the licensing.
- Visas. Saudi visa rules depend on nationality: GCC nationals enter without a visa, citizens of many countries can apply for a tourist eVisa online, and the rest apply through a consulate. Check eligibility on the Saudi visa platform before buying tickets; a UAE residence visa on its own does not replace a Saudi visa.
- Abu Dhabi as a hub. The route arrives as the emirate’s own economy expands: Abu Dhabi’s non-oil foreign trade rose 17.9% to AED 230.6 billion in the first half of 2026, and every new leisure destination adds transfer passengers to Zayed International.
Checklist: how to use the new route
- Check the timetable and fares on etihad.com or in the Etihad app; the first departure is Sunday 4 October 2026, EY621 at 09:55.
- Plan around the days of operation: Sundays only until 24 October, Thursdays and Sundays from 25 October, when EY621 moves to 09:45.
- Confirm Saudi visa eligibility for every traveller by nationality on the Saudi visa platform before booking hotels.
- For groups, reserve seat blocks early: 158 seats per flight, 316 a week in each direction.
- Book the hotel transfer with the resort: Red Sea International sits inside the destination, and island resorts are reached by boat or seaplane.
- For a two-destination trip from abroad, add the Abu Dhabi Stopover programme with up to two free hotel nights.
- For business visits, combine the Red Sea with Etihad’s five other Saudi points: Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Medina and Al Qassim are served from the same Abu Dhabi hub.
How Atlant Capital can help
Atlant Capital works with founders, investors and specialists who build a business in the UAE around tourism, hospitality, events and travel services, and with international companies that use Abu Dhabi and Dubai as a base for the Gulf. We register companies in UAE free zones and on the mainland, usually within 1-2 weeks, including the activities used by travel agencies, tour operators, event organisers and hospitality suppliers, arrange work visas and residency for shareholders, employees and families, and guide the opening of a corporate bank account, the step that most often decides whether a business starts on time. If the Red Sea route is part of your plan, as a product to sell or as a market to supply, we will help you choose the jurisdiction, prepare the documents and build a structure that works on both sides of the Gulf. One point of contact, fixed fees, realistic timelines.
Conclusion
From 4 October 2026 Etihad connects Abu Dhabi with Red Sea International Airport: EY621 out at 09:55 and EY622 back at 18:05, on Sundays first and on Thursdays and Sundays from 25 October, on a 158-seat A320. It is the airline’s sixth Saudi destination and its first chosen for holidays rather than business or pilgrimage. For the UAE the route means a second gateway to the Red Sea after flydubai from Dubai, a long-weekend format for residents, a new product for travel companies and a client base three hours away for hospitality suppliers. The airline’s own summary is the shortest: the holiday starts on the day guests arrive, not the day after.
FAQ
When does Etihad start flying from Abu Dhabi to the Red Sea?
The first flight is on Sunday 4 October 2026. EY621 departs Abu Dhabi at 09:55 and lands at Red Sea International Airport at 12:05 local time; EY622 leaves at 14:00 and arrives in Abu Dhabi at 18:05. The service operates on Sundays until 24 October and on Thursdays and Sundays from 25 October, when the outbound departure moves to 09:45. Tickets are on sale at etihad.com.
Which aircraft flies the Abu Dhabi to Red Sea route and how many seats does it have?
Etihad operates the route with an Airbus A320 in a two-class configuration: 8 seats in Business and 150 in Economy, 158 seats in total. With two flights a week from 25 October 2026 the route offers 316 seats a week in each direction. The flight takes just over three hours; the UAE is one hour ahead of Saudi Arabia.
Where is Red Sea International Airport and how do you get to the resorts?
Red Sea International Airport (RSI) is at Hanak in Tabuk Province on the north-western coast of Saudi Arabia and is operated by Red Sea Global, the developer of The Red Sea destination. It opened in September 2023 and received its first international flight, from Dubai with flydubai, on 18 April 2024. The airport sits inside the destination, so hotels are reached by a short road transfer, by boat or by seaplane, for which the airport has a dedicated water runway.
Is the Red Sea Etihad’s first destination in Saudi Arabia?
No. The Red Sea is Etihad’s sixth destination in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Medina and Al Qassim. The five existing routes serve corporate, family and religious travel; the Red Sea is the first one built around leisure, and Etihad describes it as a year-round route rather than a seasonal service.
