Etihad Airways (EY, Abu Dhabi International) has confirmed it will be terminating flights between Abu Dhabi International and São Paulo Guarulhos, Brazil with effect from March 26 of next year.

The Emirati carrier said in a statement 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 back in June 2013 using A340-600 equipment.