An Avianca Boeing 787-8 has begun flying daily between Abu Dhabi and Barcelona, an unusual operation that might suggest the Colombian carrier has quietly opened a route between Spain and the United Arab Emirates. It has not.
Since October 25, Avianca has been operating Etihad Airways flight EY111 from Abu Dhabi to Barcelona and the return EY112 under an ACMI, or wet-lease, agreement. The arrangement is scheduled to remain in place for one year, until October 25, 2027.
Under this type of contract, Avianca supplies the aircraft, flight and cabin crews, maintenance and insurance. Etihad remains responsible for selling the service, which continues to operate under the Emirati carrier's EY flight numbers.
The aircraft currently assigned to the operation is N791AV, a Boeing 787-8 that was flying regular Avianca services between Bogotá and Europe until immediately before beginning work for Etihad.
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Flight records show N791AV arriving in Barcelona from Bogotá on October 24 as AV172. The following day, it entered Etihad service and has since been flying between Barcelona and Abu Dhabi.
Etihad still operates the other daily frequency between the two cities with its own Boeing 787-9. The result is two daily flights in each direction, but only EY111/112 is operated by Avianca.
Avianca and Etihad were already commercial partners on the route. The EY111/112 flights also carry Avianca codes AV2421 and AV2416, respectively.
One-year deployment
The arrangement means an Avianca Dreamliner and its crews will spend a year flying an Etihad route that does not touch Colombia or any other Avianca destination in the Americas.
Avianca currently operates Boeing 787s as the backbone of its own long-haul network, primarily linking Bogotá with Europe and North America. Air Data News reported earlier this year that the airline had 16 passenger Dreamliners, although its widebody fleet is changing as parent Abra Group expands the types available across its airlines.
The Barcelona operation is one of the first visible results of a strategic partnership announced by Abra Group and Etihad at the Farnborough International Airshow in July.
The agreement is intended to connect the companies' networks in Latin America, the Middle East and Asia and includes cooperation beyond conventional codesharing.
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The choice of Avianca for the ACMI operation is particularly notable because Abra already has a company specialized in precisely this business.
Abra acquired a stake in Spanish carrier Wamos Air in 2024. Wamos operates Airbus A330 widebodies on wet-lease and charter contracts for other airlines and has previously supplied aircraft to Etihad itself.
The group has since been increasing the role of widebody aircraft across its businesses. Avianca is adding Airbus A330-900s, while GOL has begun long-haul operations using A330 capacity supplied within the Abra structure.
