In another sign of the increasing popularity of Manchester as a destination in its own right, Etihad is planning to increase flights to Manchester to two daily flights from August, rather than the ten flights per week which was previously announced.

The Abu Dhabi-based carrier had announced expansion plans for several routes in January, including increasing its Manchester service from seven to ten flights per week.This has now been increased further to 14 flights per week from August 1, which means Etihad will serve the UK with a total 35 flights per week from later this year 21 flights to Heathrow and 14 to Manchester.