Etihad Airways has confirmed it will be discontinuing flights between Abu Dhabi Int’l and São Paulo Guarulhos, Brazil with effect from 26 March next year. In a statement Etihad said that the route – its only scheduled service to South America – had been severely affected by the Brazilian economic downturn, as well as a weakening Real.

“The performance of the route has fallen short of company expectations and the difficult decision has been made to indefinitely suspend operations,” it said. Etihad launched the daily service in June 2013 using A340-600 equipment.