Etihad’s fancy new home

My first visit to the long awaited midfield terminal in Abu Dhabi. Now called Zayed International Airport – Terminal A, this replaces the drab former home of Etihad. It’s bloody impressive and is a massive improvement on the old terminal. Sure construction on this began in 2012, delayed several times as Etihad restructured and the pandemic happened. But now, she’s open.

Super quiet in the arrivals area, an easy transit security (despite having old scanners and still needing to take everything out) and great open central mall area. It’s gone like many world class airports have and made it a great shopping mall with an airport attached.

Over in the Etihad business lounge there are 3 levels to choose from. The 6th floor houses a ‘rooftop’ bar overlooking the gates where I had some fruit and a tea. The bar looks shmick! I then moved down one level for recliner style seats to have a nap/rest staring out into the morning haze.

The entry level houses a dining room which is more akin to a hotel breakfast area. The food was all breakfast while I was there which isn’t my thing so I headed up for a sneaky champagne on the roof top level just before leaving for my flight.

The main reason I took this routine was to check this airport out. Flying Etihad a lot in 2016’ish I always found the lounge and airport experience made me reconsider flying with them. With this new terminal I’d give them another go for a long haul flight. Alrighty - time to fly to Doha.Read more