MELBOURNE, Oct 30 (Bernama) -- Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), will launch services to Nagoya and Tokyo in the first quarter of 2010 -- the airline's first destinations in Japan.

Etihad will operate four flights a week to Nagoya, via Beijing, from Feb 1, increasing this to five a week from March 27 (subject to regulatory approval), the airline said in a statement.

A five-flights-a-week direct service to Tokyo's Narita airport begins on March 27(subject to regulatory approval).

The addition of Tokyo and Nagoya on Etihad's flying programme will bring to eight the number of destinations served by Etihad in East Asia. The others are, Beijing, Jakarta, Manila, Singapore, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.

Etihad Airways chief executive James Hogan said: "Rarely does an airline have the opportunity to launch flights to two cities in one country at the same time.So, these services to Tokyo and Nagoya are very special for Etihad."

Total trade between the two countries stands at more than US$ 40 billion. Japan is the second largest foreign investor in the UAE with foreign direct investments (FDI) of more than US$4 billion.

Among the areas of investment are the automotive and hospitality industries.

Statistics indicate that 330 Japanese companies operate in the UAE. More than 3,500 Japanese nationals reside in the country and 8,800 in the Middle East region.

Etihad will operate a three cabin Airbus A330 to Tokyo and a two cabin A330 to Nagoya.

--BERNAMA