Almost 20 per cent larger than the same period last year, Etihad will operate 825 weekly flights with the launch of new services to the Russian capital of Moscow on 1 December and the Kazakh city of Almaty on 2 December among the highlights of the new flight schedule.

The two new cities will bring to 50 the number of destinations served by the national airline of the United Arab Emirates.

James Hogan, Etihad Airways’ chief executive, said: "As Etihad Airways approaches its fifth anniversary, we continue to work hard to deliver a flying programme which meets the demands of our customers and continues to connect Abu Dhabi to the rest of the world.

"The new winter flight schedule not only offers two exciting new destinations but also additional frequencies on a number of key routes, as well as improved connection opportunities through our Abu Dhabi home base. With the additional flying we remain on track to hit our target of flying six million passengers by the end of this year."

In addition to the two new routes, Etihad Airways will also increase extra flights on a number of important routes across its global network.

Etihad’s network across the Middle East will be strengthened with increased services from Abu Dhabi to Damascus, from 11 to 14 flights a week and Kuwait from 14 to 19 a week.

The airline will also increase its existing daily service to Sydney to 11 flights a week and also add a third daily flight to London Heathrow.

The airline’s Indian flying programme will be boosted with an increased number of flights to Kochi (Cochin) from six to seven per week and Chennai (Madras) from daily to 10 per week.

A major benefit of the expanded winter flying schedule will be improvements in transfer times at Abu Dhabi between a number of connecting services across Etihad’s global network.

The number of onward transfers which can now be made in less than four hours will increase by 16 per cent compared to last year’s winter schedule.