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Etihad Airways, the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), will launch flights from its base in Abu Dhabi to the Chinese capital of Beijing next year.

From 30 March 2008, the carrier will offer four flights a week between the two cities, which will be scheduled to offer connections for passengers coming from Heathrow, Dublin, Bahrain and other destinations across Europe and the Middle East.

Beijing will be Etihad's eighth destination in its rapidly expanding Asia-Pacific network.

Passengers flying from Abu Dhabi with the airline currently have access to Brisbane, Sydney, Manila, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Bangkok.

James Hogan, chief executive of Etihad Airways, said: 'Beijing has established itself as one of the world's fastest growing and most popular destinations and we anticipate tremendous demand for this new Etihad service from customers across our global network.

'There is a huge appetite from business and leisure travellers for flights to Beijing, especially ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games, and we look forward to bringing the UAE and China closer together.'

The Abu Dhabi-Beijing route will be operated by Airbus A330 aircraft configured to carry 262 passengers in business and economy class.

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