QANTAS will face further pressure from the Virgin Australia alliance next year when Etihad starts daily flights to Perth. The non-stop services between the airline's hub and its fourth Australian gateway starts on July 15 and will initially use a 252-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft with 22 seats in business class and 240 in economy class. It will bring to 35 the number of weekly flights operated by Etihad or Virgin between Abu Dhabi and Australia. Etihad chief executive James Hogan underscored the importance of the Virgin Australia alliance, and its feed from 14 towns and cities in its WA regional network, to the decision. He said the partnership added "immensely to the strength of the business case for the route and the appeal of our consumer offering." Our analysis shows there is a significant business opportunity on the Perth route. Overseas visitor numbers are growing at a steady rate of around seven per cent overall - with several markets to which we fly - such as Germany, France, Italy and Ireland - recording an increase in visitor numbers of between 8.5 per cent and approximately 30 per cent in the 2012-13 financial year," he said. Significantly, arrivals from the Middle East grew at more than 104 per cent over the same period. Western Australians, too, are travelling overseas in increasingly large numbers with an average annual growth rate of 8.5 per cent over the past three years.