ABU DHABI -- Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), announced on Wednesday that it will launch service to the Chinese capital of Beijing on March 30, 2008.

Etihad will operate four flights a week linking its home base Abu Dhabi and Beijing, the airline's first destination in China, the airline said in a press release.

"Beijing has established itself as one of the world's fastest growing and most popular destinations and we anticipate tremendous demand for this new Etihad service from customers across our global network," the airline's CEO James Hogan was quoted as saying.

"There is a huge appetite from business and leisure travelers for flights to Beijing, especially ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games, and we look forward to bringing the UAE and China closer together, " he added.

Etihad will operate the Abu Dhabi-Beijing service with a two class Airbus A330-200 configured to carry 262 passengers with 22 in business class and 240 in economy class.

Established in July 2003, Etihad launched its first flight on November 6 the same year and currently provides services to 45 global destinations.