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In-Flight Dining / Etihad Airways / UAE / First Class Travel / Middle East Travel / Airplane Food / In-Flight Meals / Food Travel / → All Tags

First Class Food from a Five-Star, Onboard Chef? It's Coming to Etihad.

This is some next level stuff. First Class in-flight meals on Etihad—the Abu Dhabi-based airline—are now being prepared by a qualified chef. No, really; one person is dedicated to cooking, preparing and plating the meals served in the front of the plane. Yes, you read correctly: cook!

Etihad announced the hiring of 110 restaurant-caliber chefs to fly back and forth from Abu Dhabi to a handful of cities while preparing the menu for the Diamond Class cabin. The chefs will also be responsible for contributing to the evolution of the menu and meal choices both in-flight and on the ground in the each of the airline's lounges. Each chef will need at least 6 years experience in a 5-star restaurant to be welcomed aboard, and there are even some Michelin-starred restaurants that have lost their chef to the airline.

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Etihad Airways Welcomes Its First Female Captain

The United Arab Emirates isn't exactly known as the land of opportunity for women, but its skies may be. The country's national airline, Etihad Airways, just admitted its first female captain to the all-boys club.

This is not to say that the seven-year-old airline has equality among its ranks. But this is a good step in the right direction. Plus, Etihad employs 10 female pilots and four female cadet pilots, so hopefully that means the airline will be turning out more lady captains.

The top Etihad female pilot is Captain Sophie Blanchard. She took the controls for the first time September 8 during a flight from Abu Dhabi to Heathrow. Blanchard, a French national, joined Etihad in 2007 as a first officer. Let's hope more female pilots rise up through the ranks and help Blanchard form a girls club soon.

Related Stories:
· Etihad Pilot Qualifies to Become Airline’s First Female Captain [Asia Travel Tips]
· Yes, There Are Regular Flights to Iraq Now [Jaunted]
· Etihad Now Comes Complete With Women Pilots [Jaunted]

[Photo: sainz]

New Routes / Airlines / Airline News / Lufthansa / Etihad Airways / Iraqi Airways / SDA / Iraq Travel / → All Tags

Yes, There Are Regular Flights to Iraq Now

We’re not going to get into the political discussion about Iraq, but we do want to talk about visiting Iraq. Sure it might not be the safest destination in the world right now, but it’s probably not the most dangerous. After years of restrictions and regulations there are finally some flights going to and from Baghdad International Airport connecting Iraq with the rest of the world. Here’s three airlines and their new routes that will get you to Baghdad and beyond.

· Land With Lufthansa
Grab a decent in-flight cocktail or beer and relax on your way to Iraq. Lufthansa announced that they’d be sending planes to and from Baghdad from both Munich and Frankfurt starting this summer. It’s been roughly twenty years since the airline had service to Iraq, but they’re now planning to go full speed ahead. Besides Baghdad the airline is also planning to hit up Northern Iraq and the city of Erbil beginning on April 25. We’re thinking this could be delayed by a bit due to all the recent volcano stuff.

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Etihad Airways' New Golf Club is More Than Just a Putting Green

Business travel and golf go together like airlines and fees. We’ve already seen putting greens in airport lounges, but one airline is going a step further with their passion for golf. Etihad Airways is actually launching their very own golf club—a club for golf, not like the physical club.

With Etihad Golf Club, they want to provide their frequent flyers with access to different sporting events around the world, and they want to ensure exclusive events related to all things golf are just a phone call away. There will be vacation packages designed around the airline’s destinations including trips to London, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai. Experts are even around to give online tutoring to make sure your game is up to par—ha—when you finally hit the links.

Through their Etihad Guest program they are really trying to attract some high spenders; however, you’re more than welcome to spend frequent flyer miles on these golf related services and packages. That way you can save some of your scratch to buy a round following the eighteenth hole.

Related Stories:
· Etihad Airways Launches Golf Club [AsiaTravelTips]
· Etihad Slowly But Surely Getting The Word Out About Abu Dhabi [Jaunted]
· Etihad Airways coverage [Jaunted]

[Not a photo of an Etihad Airways golf course: eMaringolo]

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Etihad Slowly But Surely Getting The Word Out About Abu Dhabi

Dubai, Dubai, Dubai. The Middle Eastern city on everyone's lips these days is still Dubai, despite the economic beating they're currently taking. Nonetheless, inch by inch Abu Dhabi is eeking its way up there, and Etihad Airways is majorly helping the Emirati capital to capture the world's attention.

In the last few years, Etihad has scrambled up to serving 58 destinations, with a goal of 70 worldwide by 2010. Is it a ploy for world domination or what? Our guess is that Etihad just wants to make a profit, since they haven't yet. Here's the next few routes we can expect from this growing Abu Dhabi giant:

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Etihad Now Comes Complete With Women Pilots

From a region of the world not exactly renowned for recognizing women in the work force, Etihad Airways is keen to let the world know that they have just graduated their first local female pilots from their flight training program.

Etihad is based in Abu Dhabi and has only been up and running since 2003—and their pilot cadet training program has only just taken on its 100th trainee, so the female-male ratio is not too tragic, especially since they've got four more local women still in training now.

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Etihad Airways Rolls Out Luxe Airport Lounges With Free Limo Service

After a long snooze in one of Eithad Airways' crazy fancy suites, you are going to need to eventually stumble off the plane, like it or not. That’s why the airline is starting to expand its offerings when it comes to matching fancy schmancy lounges. The airline opened their first lounge outside of the United Arab Emirates over the summer in Frankfurt, and now they have their eyes on the comfort prize in London.

Along with moving their flights from Terminal 3 to Terminal 4 at London-Heathrow, a new lounge will open for the classiest of fliers on September 30. Give them a call now and book your private treatment room where you’ll be pampered by treatments from the Six Senses Spa. The foot and leg massages will be quite a relief after an overnight long-haul flight. ANd if you’re hungry after a rubdown, just swing by their five-star dining facilities where you can watch your dinner being cooked through an open kitchen.

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We're Dying for Diamond First Class on Etihad Airways

We could really go for some luxurious daytime napping right now, but we're going to hold out and instead drool over images of Etihad Airways' new Diamond First Class cabin. Just released this week at the Arabian Travel Market convention in Dubai, the new luxury seats from the official Emirati airline combine the comfort of a hotel with the at-hand goodies of a confined airline seat.

We're talking about more than just some snazzy striped bedding, but a Poltrona Frau "extra-large seat that extends to a fully-flat bed 80.5 inches (6' 7") in length and which is equipped with built-in massager, lumbar support and adjustable headrest, as well as power sockets for a laptop, iPod and other electronic devices." Hook us up with some of that.

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