Written by on Mar 19, 2015. Posted in On Location

Etihad Airways launches Fast & Furious plane promoting Abu Dhabi filming

Abu Dhabi is promoting the new Fast & Furious movie and the city’s direct Etihad Airways flight route to Los Angeles with a plane carrying the action franchise’s branding. Furious 7 spent two weeks in Abu Dhabi last year shooting key sequences.

Furious 7 stars Vin Diesel and the late Paul Walker.

Filming locations included the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Yas Marina Formula One race track and the Etihad Towers, as well as outside the city itself in the Liwa Desert.

“We are so honoured that Etihad has partnered with us to support this very personal film, and we thank the people of the United Arab Emirates for all the kindness and graciousness they showed throughout production,” said producer Neal H Moritz.

Etihad Airways’ direct flight between Abu Dhabi and Los Angeles was launched in June last year to improve accessibility and boost Abu Dhabi’s profile as an international filming location.

Abu Dhabi offers a 30% filming incentive and last year also hosted location work for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. However, the city and the United Arab Emirates as a country can do more to boost the region’s international Hollywood appeal. Producers have recently called for more local studio facilities in Abu Dhabi.

Further east, producers can access Dubai Studio City, but Dubai lacks a formal filming incentive programme and appeals primarily to Bollywood.

The city has had great success with the likes of Akshay Kumar’s Baby and Shah Rukh Khan’s Happy New Year, but Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol has been the only Hollywood movie to visit for any significant length of time in the last five years.