Etihad Airways, the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates, this week starts daily flights between Abu Dhabi and Edinburgh.
Edinburgh is Etihad Airways’ first Scottish destination, and its third point in the UK, alongside a triple-daily operation to London Heathrow and double-daily flights to Manchester.
According to figures released at the end of 2014 by the UK’s Office for National Statistics, bilateral trade between the UAE and UK reached more than £12.36 billion in 2013. Edinburgh is the UK’s largest tourist market outside London, with more than a million arrivals from overseas each year.
Scottish Enterprise figures show that the Middle East is the second largest international market for Scottish oil and gas exports, valued at £2 billion.