Etihad Airways, the national carrier of the UAE, last night touched down in Kolkata as the airline made its much-anticipated return to the city. With a total of seven weekly nonstop services, the airline will once again connect India’s financial capital, Kolkata, with the world through Abu Dhabi.

The first flight on the new service, EY256, departed Abu Dhabi with a full load of passengers at 1:50pm local time on 26 March and touched down at Kolkata’s Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Airport last night at 8:10pm local time.

Upon arrival in Kolkata, passengers were welcomed with a cake cutting ceremony and a celebration attended by Etihad and Kolkata Airport Executives.

The return flight, EY257, departed Kolkata at 9:05pm local time on 26 March, landing in Abu Dhabi shortly after midnight.

The flights will be operated with an Airbus A320 aircraft, offering Etihad’s award-winning service to guests in 8 seats in Business Class and 150 in Economy, convenient flight timings to the UAE’s capital city and seamless connections to destinations across the airline’s growing global network of 67 destinations.