Etihad Airways to launch flights to Kabul, Afghanistan

Etihad Airways has announced that starting December 18, 2025, it will begin flights to Kabul, Afghanistan, a destination that it has never served before.

According to the airline, its decision to launch flights between Abu Dhabi Zayed International Airport (AUH) and Kabul International Airport (KBL) was spurred by “growing demand for travel between the UAE and Afghanistan,” providing direct access not only between the two airports, but also to other destinations on Etihad Airways’ network.

The carrier will deploy its Airbus A320 aircraft to operate the thrice-weekly service, with the airline’s A320s, including the A320neos, being fitted with either 16 business and 120 economy class, or eight business and 150 economy class seats, according to planespotters.net.

KBL, becoming the 31st destination that Etihad Airways has announced this year, represented “another important step in Etihad’s strategy to expand access to markets within a four-hour radius of Abu Dhabi, while strengthening connections to major destinations across our global network,” according to Antonoaldo Neves, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Etihad Airways.

“These flights will serve strong demand for travel, enable trade and investment flows, and reconnect families and communities.”

Flight EY 310 is scheduled to depart AUH at 14:45 local time (UTC +4), with an arrival time of 18:15 (UTC +4:30). The flight back to AUH is scheduled to leave KBL at 19:20 and arrive at AUH at 22:10.

According to Cirium’s Diio Mi, the late arrival into AUH facilitates a small number of connections on Etihad Airways’ flights, which are spaced out between 30 minutes and three hours after arrival on December 18, the route’s inaugural date. This includes departures to six destinations, displayed below:

In contrast, the mid-day departure from AUH enables Etihad Airways’ passengers flying from at least 27 destinations, including some from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, such as Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) or New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), to easily connect onto a flight to KBL.

However, there might be local demand for these flights as well. Neves pointed out that around 300,000 Afghans are “living and working in the [the United Arab Emirates (UAE)], according to the Afghan Business Council.”

Etihad Airways will become the only fourth international airline, which excludes Iranian carriers, to serve KBL in 2025. Currently, two other UAE-based carriers, flydubai and AirArabia, fly to the Afghan capital, while Turkish Airlines offers daily departures between Istanbul Airport (IST) and KBL.

Cirium's Diio Mi also showed that Etihad Airways had never scheduled flights to KBL since it began flying in November 2023.