Etihad Airways said it has wet leased* a Virgin Australia Boeing 777-300ER to operate on the Abu Dhabi and Kuala Lumpur route. The once a week wet lease service is an addition to the two airline ten-year strategic partnership announced on August 26, 2010.

Kevin Knight, Etihad Airway's chief strategy and planning officer said, "This new agreement expands our successful partnership with Virgin Australia which already provides our guests access to Australia and elsewhere on our combined network of over 150 destinations.

"Working together with our partner Virgin Australia we continue to find new ways to serve our guests and create value for each of our airlines."
The leased aircraft have seating configuration 328 (economy class) and 33 flat bed seats (business class). The return flights will be operated as normal using Etihad Airways' existing daily EY411 and EY418 flight codes, respectively. Flight time is seven hours and 20 minutes.

Etihad Airways has a daily flight service from Abu Dhabi to Kuala Lumpur utilizing a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.

Etihad Airways and Virgin Australia Group Partnership:

Etihad passengers can now travel on all Virgin Australia's 44 destinations in Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, Asia and to Los Angeles. With the 66 destinations available to Virgin Australia passengers, the two companies offer a joint network of 110 destinations.

In February 2011, Virgin Australia became the first Australian airline to operate to the Middle East for 20 years when it launched direct flights to Abu Dhabi from Sydney.

James Hogan, Etihad Airways chief executive officer, commented on the partnership at that time, “Australia is a critically important market for Etihad and we are very pleased to be able to provide more capacity on our Australian routes through this partnership.”

"NewFrom February 2011, Etihad and Virgin Australia, Virgin Australia’s international carrier, operate 27 weekly services between Abu Dhabi and Australia – including double-daily services between Abu Dhabi and Sydney, daily Melbourne-Abu Dhabi flights and six flights per week between Abu Dhabi and Brisbane.

Virgin Australia operates three Sydney-Abu Dhabi services per week as of February 2011 and three Brisbane-Abu Dhabi services per week as of February 2012.

Etihad Airways new destinations with Virgin Australia

Australia
Adelaide, Albury, Ayers Rock (Uluru),Ballina/Byron, Broome, Cairns, Canberra, Coffs Coast, Darwin, Fraser Coast, Gold Coast, Hamilton Island, Hayman Island, Hobart, Kalgoorlie, Karratha, Kununurra, Launceston, Mackay, Mildura, Newcastle, Newman, Perth, Port Hedland, Port Macquarie, Rockhampton, Sunshine Coast, Townsville, Whitsundays

New Zealand
Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Queenstown, Wellington
Pacific Islands
Honiara (Solomon Islands), Nadi (Fiji), Nuku'Alofa (Tonga), Port Vila (Vanuatu), Rarotonga (Cook Islands)
Papua New Guinea
Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea)
Indonesia
Denpasar
Thailand
Phuket

* Wet lease
Although the terms and conditions of the wet lease between Etihad Airways and Virgin Australia have not been disclosed. A wet lease is a leasing arrangement whereby one airline (lessor) provides an aircraft, crew, maintenance, and insurance (ACMI) to an airline (the lessee), pays by hours operated. The lessee provides fuel and covers airport fees and any other duties, taxes, etc. The lease operation utilize the flight number of the lessee. Contractually it may also be considered as an another form of charter whereby the lessor provides minimum operating services, other that the ACMI, and the lessee provides the balance of services along with flight numbers. In all other forms of charter, the lessor provides the flight numbers.