Dubai: UAE airlines, including Etihad Airways, Wizz Air, Air Arabia, and flydubai, are preparing for a busy 2025 with nearly 20 new destinations on their flight schedules. As the UAE’s flag carrier, Etihad Airways is set to expand its network with at least 14 new routes, adding cities like Atlanta, Hong Kong, Chiang Mai, and Krabi to its growing list.

Budget carriers Wizz Air Abu Dhabi and Air Arabia are also growing their route offerings.

Also, UAE carriers have introduced off-peak airfare deals to attract travellers, with Air Arabia is launching a major seat sale offering 500,000 seats starting at just Dh129.

Here are some of the destinations UAE residents can include in their travel bucket list this year:

Etihad Airways
Etihad Airways will introduce direct flights to Sochi, Russia, starting May 29. The carrier will fly between Zayed International Airport, Abu Dhabi (AUH) and Sochi International Airport (AER) thrice a week. The flights are on sale now, and Etihad fly to Sochi using the modern A320 family aircraft. It is the 14th new destination the airline will add to its network this year.

Etihad will also commence flights to Atlanta, Hanoi, Hong Kong and Taipei, as well as to the European capitals of Prague and Warsaw. Expanding its network across North Africa, Etihad will begin flying to Algiers, Tunis and Al Alamein.

flydubai
flydubai will begin offering daily flights to Al Alamein, Egypt, starting on June 21 and continuing until September 7. Last year, the Dubai carrier grew its network in Europe to 43 destinations in 21 countries despite being forced to cancel the launch of routes planned amid jet delivery delays at Boeing and supply chain problems.

Wizz Air Abu Dhabi
Wizz Air Abu Dhabi will expand its network with thrice-weekly flights to Varna, Bulgaria, starting March 31. Fares to Varna begin at Dh279. The national airline unlocked more than 4.4 million ultra-low-cost seats and carried 3.5 million passengers directly last year. The joint venture established between ADQ and Wizz Air Holdings PLC achieved 20 per cent growth year-on-year in seat capacity and the number of passengers carried.

Air Arabia
Air Arabia has also commenced thrice-weekly flights from Sharjah to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on January 30.

Boosting routes
Dubai’s flagship carrier, Emirates, is boosting its flights to Madagascar to meet robust travel demand. The airline will introduce additional flights to the island nation, boosting its schedule from four to six-weekly services, starting April 2.

-B