Etihad Airways will launch year-round direct flights between Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast from October 4, connecting the flagship luxury development to one of the Gulf’s largest airline networks.
For the travel trade the route matters as a connectivity milestone for a destination still building its passenger base: it is the fourth international service into Red Sea International Airport, after flydubai’s Dubai link in April 2024 and Qatar Airways’ Doha service from October 2025, and it lets travellers across Etihad’s network reach the resorts with a single connection through Abu Dhabi, widening the funnel of source markets as Red Sea Global works to fill a fast-growing bank of hotel rooms.
The service will start with one flight a week on Sundays, rising to twice weekly with the addition of Thursdays from October 25. Etihad will operate the route with an Airbus A320 seating eight in business and 150 in economy, on a flight of a little over three hours. Because Red Sea International Airport sits inside the destination itself, guests can leave Abu Dhabi in the morning and reach their resort by early afternoon, avoiding a long onward road transfer.
The Red Sea becomes Etihad’s sixth destination in Saudi Arabia, alongside Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Medina and Al Qassim. Etihad chief executive Antonoaldo Neves said the route brought an island-and-reef holiday of the kind normally requiring a long-haul flight within a short hop of Abu Dhabi. The airline is also positioning it for two-destination trips through its Abu Dhabi Stopover programme.
The launch supports Red Sea Global’s connectivity drive as its inventory expands. The developer has 11 resorts open across The Red Sea, with a further six to follow, and access runs mainly through Red Sea International Airport, which began domestic operations in 2023 and added international flights in 2024. The destination lies along Saudi Arabia’s north-western coast in Tabuk province, taking in more than 90 islands, coral reefs, mangroves and desert.
The route also deepens tourism links between the UAE and Saudi Arabia, two Gulf states competing to expand leisure travel while increasingly feeding each other’s destinations, and forms part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 push to build an international tourism market from a low base.