South African Airways has commenced daily flights to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

The first of these flights – SA 278 – departed on Sunday morning last week at 09:30. SAA’s codeshare partner, Etihad Airways, will continue its seven weekly departures to Abu Dhabi, thereby doubling South African flight frequencies to the city.

Commenting on the agreement with Etihad Airways, acting SAA chief executive officer, Nico Bezuidenhout said, “Together we are exploring means to share knowledge and best practice across a wide variety of aviation related and commercial matters.”

Business and leisure travellers are set to benefit from multiple flight options between Johannesburg and Abu Dhabi on a daily basis.

Over 1 000 weekly connections will also be offered over Etihad Airways’ Abu Dhabi hub to destinations in the Middle East, India, North and South East Asia and China.