(WAM) — Etihad Airways yesterday operated its first ever flight from Abu Dhabi to San Jose, capital of Costa Rica. The goodwill flight transported Costa Rican citizens returning home, and humanitarian aid from the Government of the United Arab Emirates, to help Costa Rica in its fight against COVID-19.

The Boeing 787-9 was also carrying Dominican nationals returning from the UAE, and the flight landed in Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic, before continuing to Costa Rica.

The flight was met by Costa Rican officials and diplomatic staff from the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in San Jose.

Following the suspension of all normal passenger flights to and from the UAE on 24 March, Etihad has operated special humanitarian services to 34 cities around the world, all of which are not currently served by the airline’s passenger or cargo network of flights. These include Bogota, Havana, Santo Domingo, Bucharest, Grozny, Kiev, Larnaca, Podgorica, Tirana, Yerevan, Zagreb, Auckland, Bhubaneswar, Bishkek, Dushanbe, Dhaka, Erbil, Kabul, Lucknow, Makhachkala, Addis Ababa, Antananarivo, Bamako, Banjul, Conakry, Freetown, Harare, Kinshasa, Moroni, N’Djamena, Niamey, and Nouakchott.

The airline recently operated special humanitarian flights carrying essential medical and humanitarian cargo bound for the Palestinian Territories.