United Arab Emirates (UAE) national carrier, Etihad Airways is to boost flights to next year’s Routes Asia host city, Manila, the capital of the Philippines. The hub carrier will introduce an additional three weekly flights between Abu Dhabi International Airport and Ninoy Aquino International Airport from May 1, 2016, offering a total of 17 return flights per week in this market.

The new services will increase capacity between the two cities by almost 2,500 seats per week enabling Etihad to better serve the market in the UAE and the Philippines for point-to-point travel as well as supporting behind and beyond demand via its Abu Dhabi International Airport hub.

“The Abu Dhabi-Manila route is one of our strongest in terms of demand and has been capacity-constrained over the past few years,” explained James Hogan, President and Chief Executive Officer, Etihad Airways.

The enhanced flight schedule will provide enhanced connectivity via Abu Dhabi with 1,085 weekly connections to 58 destinations on the airline’s global network. This includes connections to Bahrain, Dammam, Doha, Jeddah, Kuwait and Riyadh which are among the top 20 destinations for travellers to and from the Philippines.

The extra capacity would also enable Etihad Airways and its partner airlines to grow traffic beyond the local Middle East demand and grow the business and leisure travel market from the UAE and European countries such as the UK, France, and Italy.

“There’s huge potential to grow the visitor market, particularly from the Middle East and Europe, and we’re keen to work with our European partner airlines, the Philippines Government and its tourism board to showcase the beauty of the country and the friendliness of its people,” said Hogan.

“For holidaymakers, the Philippines – with its secluded islands, pristine beaches, undersea diving spots and luxury resorts – is one of the world’s best-kept secrets. The three additional weekly services between Abu Dhabi and Manila will help us realise this ambition,” he added.

Like Etihad’s two existing daily rotations between Abu Dhabi and Manila, the three additional flights will be operated by two-class Boeing 777-300ERs with 28 seats in Business and 384 in Economy. The additional frequency will also boost commerce and trade between the UAE and the Philippines. With a belly hold capacity of 18 tonnes, the B777-300ER offers the airline and its freight customers a significant opportunity to grow the export/import business, particularly in the area of electronics and fresh food.

Etihad commenced services to the Philippines in February 2006 and alongside its own flights has a codeshare arrangement with Philippine Airlines on its own five times weekly link between Manila and Abu Dhabi. It has carried an estimated 3.3 million passengers on the route during the almost ten years in the market with average load factors of around 91.5 per cent from Abu Dhabi and 95.7 per cent from Abu Dhabi, according to Sabre data.

Analysis of MIDT statistics for the first six months of this year shows that less than one fifth of passengers flying with Etihad between Abu Dhabi and Manila are flying on a point-to-point basis. An estimated 17.7 per cent of the demand during that period was local traffic, with connections via Abu Dhabi accounting for 77.8 per cent of the traffic.

After the Abu Dhabi and Manila local traffic, Doha, Qatar was the biggest single origin and destination market for passengers flying with Etihad on the route during the first six months of 2015, followed by the three Saudi Arabian cities of Dammam, Riyadh and Jeddah. London Heathrow, UK; Milan Malpensa, Italy and Dublin, Republic of Ireland are the largest markets outside of the Middle East.