Etihad Airways today officially opened its new Premium Lounge at Melbourne Airport, offering guests an environment in which they can relax, re-energise, dine, work or be entertained pre-flight.

At more than 800m2 with seating capacity for up to 133 guests, it is the airline's largest Premium Lounge outside Abu Dhabi.

With the commencement of A380 services from 1st June, guests in The Residence will enjoy the exclusivity of a private lounge discreetly located adjacent to the main lounge entry.

Shane O'Hare, Etihad Airways Senior Vice President for Marketing, said, "The new Premium Lounge at Melbourne Airport is in a class of its own, it is the airport lounge as it is commonly known, totally reimagined.

"The opening of this remarkable new facility and the launch of our flagship A380 services on 1st June, offer travellers on the Melbourne-Abu Dhabi route our most compelling guest experience proposition ever."

The new facility adds to the airline's expanding portfolio of premium lounges in Sydney, Abu Dhabi, Dublin, Frankfurt, London Heathrow, Manchester, Paris, Washington DC and New York. A new First Class Lounge at Abu Dhabi International Airport and a new First and Business Class Lounge at Los Angeles will follow in the coming months.

Etihad Airways commenced daily flights to Melbourne in March, 2009. Today, it operates double daily, non-stop flights to Abu Dhabi and beyond to the GCC, Africa and Europe. It is the only airline offering double daily non-stop flights between Melbourne and the United Arab Emirates. The UAE flag carrier will introduce its flagship Airbus A380 to Melbourne from 1st June bringing to the route The Residence, the world's only private three-room cabin on a commercial aircraft.

In addition to double daily services to Melbourne, Etihad Airways operates daily flights to Brisbane and to Perth and 11 weekly services to Sydney. Its equity partner airline, Virgin Australia, operates an additional three weekly services between Sydney and Abu Dhabi.

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