CHARLOTTE — Air strikes are escalating across the Middle East, causing some airlines to halt flights there for now, but a major Middle Eastern airline is expected to launch a new route later this month in Charlotte.
Etihad Airways is slated to start the longest flight route out of Charlotte Douglas International Airport. As military operations continue in the Middle East, Channel 9’s Evan Donovan pushed for answers about the status of these new flights to Abu Dhabi.
According to officials at the airport, Etihad still plans to land its first flight here on the CLT runways later this month, and it’ll be historic if it happens.
Etihad plans to fly in a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the first to serve Charlotte’s airport, according to our partners at the Charlotte Business Journal.
The plane will make a 14-hour flight to and from the United Arab Emirates capital city, four times a week. The new service starts at around $900 for a basic ticket, and departs CLT on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.
The first flight is scheduled to land on Friday, March 20. But Etihad had suspended all flights after the U.S. bombed Iran over the weekend, leading to retaliatory attacks in several Middle East countries, including the UAE. The BBC reports a drone strike headed for the Abu Dhabi airport was intercepted, but one person was still killed by falling debris.
Right now, Etihad is offering refunds for any unused tickets throughout its whole network, but that only applies to flights scheduled to depart before next Tuesday, March 10.
We’ll let you know if the airline extends that refund policy if this conflict in the Middle East continues.
(VIDEO: American Airlines employee arrested for fake bomb threat at airport)
©2026 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/LH3JSJEF3VBLRJLJQESEAG34AM.png)
