UAE citizens and residents are now free to travel from the airline’s Abu Dhabi hub, but the emirates as a whole are still off limits to UK visitors. Despite this, the carrier is already serving Heathrow and will restart Manchester services from 16 July.

During July and August, subject to the lifting of international restrictions, the airline plans to fly to 58 destinations worldwide. These will include major gateways in the Middle East, North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

Tony Douglas, Etihad Aviation Group group chief executive said: “We are delighted to announce the gradual expansion of normal scheduled services to more cities across our global network. 

“The easing of restrictions on travel to and from the UAE is an important first step and a great development for Abu Dhabi. By August we aim to operate approximately 45% of our pre-Covid capacity.

“While we have continued to operate a schedule of special passenger, cargo and humanitarian flights over the last few months, the priority is now to build the network back up on markets that have opened up, and to provide a secure and hygienic flying environment across the entire guest journey.
 
“Over the last few months, we have seized every opportunity to improve our processes, review our product offering, and to undertake the biggest fleet maintenance programme in our history. We are tremendously grateful to our customers and partners for their continued loyalty.”