Etihad set to launch Atlanta’s first nonstop Abu Dhabi flight next month

“We don’t cover the Southeast right now, so just to have our footprint in this area, we‘re excited.”

Etihad is “actively building out” an Atlanta team to serve its new location, a spokeswoman confirmed, making hires across sales, operations and cargo.

“We are looking to be sustainable in the market for the long term, and that means we want to invest in Atlanta,” Mathews said.

Last month the airline announced it will add Charlotte to its U.S. network map in May 2026.

Etihad was attracted to Atlanta because of its demographics — and its business diversity, Mathews said.

“You have fintech. You have the film and studios. You have a lot of technology as well, manufacturing, there‘s so much,” she said. “And I think that diversity attracts us to come into Atlanta.”

Plus, the airline paid close attention to how the region’s demographics overlap with its own route map. “We know there‘s a huge population that mirrors our routes,” she said, including across the Asia-Pacific region and India.

Etihad’s own hub-and-spoke model is structured around bringing passengers into its Abu Dhabi hub and connecting them to more than 90 global destinations.

For example, she said: “We serve 11 cities in the Indian subcontinent. We know there‘s a huge population (in Atlanta).”

Metro Atlanta’s Asian community has more than doubled in the past two decades, according to the Atlanta Regional Commission. People of Indian origin make up more than a third of that population — the largest group.

India is also a region that Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines has struggled to serve directly because U.S. airlines are unable to fly over Russian airspace. Currently, Delta offers connecting service to a handful of Indian cities via its European partners.

On Sunday, Delta and its partners Virgin Atlantic, Air France and KLM announced a new agreement with Indian low cost airline IndiGo, which will expand the network’s reach in the continent.

Delta also said it “plans to resume services to India” with nonstop flights between Atlanta and Delhi, at an unknown time.

In a prior interview, Delta’s Chief External Affairs Officer Peter Carter told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution it cannot serve India until Russian airspace is reopened, “and none of us know when that will be.”

Ricky Smith, the new general manager of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, told the Atlanta City Council late last month that recruiting new international routes will be a priority.

He’s creating a new role to oversee what’s known as “air service development,” as well as marketing.

The airport has a list of underserved international markets, he told the AJC, and Atlanta’s two-person air service development team isn’t big enough to handle the job. They need more consultant support, as well, he said.

“We want to make sure that we’re putting our best foot forward in terms of going all over the country and all over the world, and closing the gap on those unserved and underserved markets,” he said.

Etihad, which is owned by Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund ADQ, had years ago been caught up in a dispute with U.S. airlines — including Delta — over unfair competition.

CEO Ed Bastian back in 2018 said Delta had been “run out of” Middle Eastern and Indian markets because airlines including Etihad were receiving unfair subsidies from their respective governments.

The U.S. successfully came to agreements with both the Qatari and Emirati governments over the issue.

Etihad has been planning an imminent $1 billion IPO after announcing it had tripled its net profit last year following a restructuring and management shake-up, Reuters reported.

Editor’s note: This story was updated to include news of Delta’s agreement with IndiGo.