Virgin Australia's Brisbane to Abu Dhabi leg

As a part of its tie-up with Etihad Airways, Virgin Australia's proposed thrice-weekly service from Brisbane to Abu Dhabi, due to start from February 2012, is currently "under review", the Abu Dhabi-based carrier's Chief Commercial Officer, Peter Baumgartner said, according to Australian media reports. "Yes, it is under review and we will confirm the final timeline once we know it," Baumgartner, who was speaking at the Aviation Outlook Australia Pacific Conference, was quoted as saying this by the Australian Associated Press (AAP), adding that the timing of the new services from Brisbane is being "examined". "These plans are always under review. In aviation terms, 12 months is a very long period of time and many things are changing, conditions and parameters are changing," he added, according to the AAP report. The Virgin-Etihad tie-up announced in August last year, was supposed to include Virgin Australia's long-haul offshoot V Australia flying three times a week between Sydney and Abu Dhabi, starting February this year, and three times a week between Brisbane and Abu Dhabi, via Singapore, starting in February 2012. Article continues below Etihad, meanwhile operates a daily service to Melbourne, 11 flights a week to Sydney and three services a week to Brisbane, via Singapore. "Leveraging our respective strengths, we jointly offer a formidable product. The first Australian airline to fly to the Middle East in more than 20 years, Virgin feeds its customers onto the European Continent in one stop over Abu Dhabi. That is a powerful proposition for them to offer Australian consumers," Baumgartner said. "Meanwhile, Etihad is able to generate more traffic on secondary domestic routes in Australia, particularly inbound." Etihad is working closely with Air New Zealand as well to "offer onward connections across the Tasman on their metal."