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Etihad Airways, the UAE’s national airline and one of the world’s fastest-growing full-service carriers, will become the first GCC carrier to operate a commercial passenger flight to and from Israel. The latest move comes as part of Etihad Airway’s efforts to bring Israel’s travel and tourism leaders to the United Arab Emirates. The three-and-a-half-hour flight, flown in partnership with the Maman Group, will depart Tel Aviv on 19 October from Israel to the UAE. According to Etihad Airways, the return flight will depart from the UAE capital city of Abu Dhabi on 21 October. Etihad noted that it will be using ‘Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft’ for these inaugural flights. Onboard the flight from Israel will be tourism industry leaders, travel and cargo agents, and select media executives, who will fly to Abu Dhabi at the invitation of Etihad Airways. In addition to carrying commercial guests, the flights between Tel Aviv and the UAE capital city will also carry commercial cargo ‘sourced from, and destined for’ locations across Etihad’s global network.<br/>

Etihad Airways, wholly owned by the Abu Dhabi government, is planning to sell US dollar-denominated ‘transition’ sukuk, or Islamic bonds, a document issued by one of the banks leading the deal showed. Proceeds of so-called transition bonds are used by companies to gradually switch to more environmentally sustainable operations. Etihad has hired HSBC and Standard Chartered as joint global coordinators and “joint sustainability structuring agents” for the planned deal. Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD Capital, First Abu Dhabi Bank and Mashreq Bank will also be involved in the transaction. The planned sukuk, which will be issued depending on market conditions, will have a five-year maturity and are part of a $3b sukuk programme expected to be rated ‘A’ by Fitch.<br/>