Two New Unexpected Long-Haul Routes & Why They Will Exist

For those who want to know it’s it’s Abu Dhabi to Charlotte and Taipei to phoenix

Charlotte…Phoenix… are those really viable? LAX, SFO are far more worthy of Etihad service than a Southern backwater. As for Phoenix and Starlux, certainly ORD, JFK, IAD or BOS are more appropriate routes for a relatively new carrier, PHX…I don't get it

Gulf cooperation council countries should buy more Airbus.

New routes so that new groups of people can get detained by ice smh😡

Bring back LAX.

what's happening in charlotte?

Anything but Turin, Italy 😭

Why not fly to RDU? RTP is a fast growing region in NC and RDU that will boom in Travelers flying to the Middle East and india. So just serve Raleigh-Durham etihad.

Etihad would have not Committed to flying not Charlotte , NC if it wasn’t for the feeder flights / codeshare from AA. It would have been just a thin route with very little margin in it.

I thought etihed was apart of sky team.

You made a comment about the A380 coming to my home city of Toronto. Can you do a video as to this route because it's the first time they're sending an A380 that's not from Emirates to Toronto

Please and thank you

Charlotte is a good pick, it's a massive hub that brings in many regional airports. Finally, an airline that does their homework.

For StarLux, It looks like it's up on their website, but no nonstops from Dulles.

Charlotte NC is also the second largest banking hub in the US.

Really enjoy long flights.

It's a no brainer for Starlux, Arizona gets so many travelers from Asia and now TSMC's presence just gave it more reason to exist. Also convenient for me because we have direct flight to Phoenix from where I live and now I can connect to Starlux at both LA and Phoenix. Really hope Starlux would join Oneworld soon.

Shame no lax/sfo

Etihad Airways with Charlotte is nice! But unexpected. And Emirates doesn’t fly there! 😀

I don’t think this specific business opportunity will provide all the necessary passenger load for Starlux. They need a major airline partner, with the only left option being AA. It’s good to be partners with Alaska but Alaska’s coverage has been limited.

Had my worst ever flight 12 hours 40 mins from Taipei on a Turkish 789 to Istanbul. 1035 departure and cabin crew decided to darken the cabin completely along with the window blinds. Never in 40 years of flying have I ever had the misfortune to be treated like that. Shocking way for crew to behave.

I am still shocked how none of the middle east carriers fly to Phoenix. There's a lot of international students that frequently fly. Even a single flight per week would benefit a lot given Phoenix is American's Hub as well. British Airways and Air France dominates the international phoenix market and it's easy for middle east carriers to take a good chunk from them.

A flight from A-Bunda-Bhi to Charlotte is weird.

That’s unfortunate that AUH has pre-clearance. I was hoping CBP would be getting off their asses and open earlier in CLT

It's a great video and the details are amazing

Yes they chose CLT because of the large AA hub. AA wil feed those flights

Charlotte is also known for a thriving tech home which probably also has a lot of Indian population that flies to India in the Middle East carriers. Definitely benefit from that. Also american airlines has a big hub

I need a nonstop between Atlanta and Taipei. Only ATL to Tokyo and Seoul means the one layover option to Asia is super expensive.

AbuDhabi is lucky to have better flight rights with India. Etihad can go deep and wide in India with US and Canadian flights.

It's true, I didn't expect this! 😂 Great video, thank you!

If only India had less taxes, Indians won't have to rely on Arabs to travel overseas

Which South American cities are connected to Phoenix Sky Harbor? Mexico is not South America

so etihad is never bringing back LAX to it's network?

Starlux please launch San Diego, Salt Lake City, Denver, Austin, Las Vegas and Portland

Can’t wait I’ll be on Taipei-Phx day one

Well done Etihad!

One great benefit for flying Etihad from CLT is their generous stopover service in Abu Dhabi, which gives 2-3 nights free in a 3-4 star hotel, or 80% discount in a 5-star hotel in Abu Dhabi. That allows enough time to explore Abu Dhabi and Dubai on the way to other destinations in Asia, Africa or the middle east. I've taken advantage of this service before, and it was great!

Charlotte for military and phoenix for big asian population

Sure, I would fly with them. I’d like to go to Taipei.

Why is Starlux serving Phoenix before NYC which has a significantly larger Taiwanese ethnic population as well as services from China Airlines and Eva Air?

Wake me up when the Washington DC to Moscow route opens up.

Will Charlotte finally get a Flagship Lounge there due to this? If not, there really is no reason for me to connect in CLT if I am going long haul in business class either on AA or EY

The Charlotte airport is better equipped to handle flights than the Raleigh-Durham airport is. The report didn't make any sense to me until you announced that the focus of the route is India. This is the best way for students from India to travel . 😊

interest comparing like recent many most european airlines others have are now no longer fly to china but others but see other like you said this happening wonder

Definitely would fly to Taiwan from PHX w/o going thru LAX or SFO.

Great video and quite informative. I would add that while the population of the city of Charlotte is just over 900K,, the metropolitan area is almost 3M so your population comment on Charlotte is misleading. Add to that the metro population of Raleigh at app. 1.6K and Greensboro at nearly 800K, there is little doubt that the area could easily support the traffic required for the route to be profitable. And let's not forget the role Charlotte plays in the banking/financial industry in the US and the world.

LAS could use another Asia route. KE has been monopolizing it for years now.

Also Atlanta to Abu Dhabi starts 7/2/25