Etihad’s focus on smaller aircraft puts fleet plans in limbo

Etihad Airways plans to rebuild operations around smaller twin-aisle jets once coronavirus lockdowns ease, spelling an uncertain future for the biggest models the Gulf carrier has in its fleet plan. Etihad hasn’t set a delivery date for Boeing Co.’s coming 777X, and it’s not clear if the Airbus SE A380 superjumbo will ever return or how many A350s are needed, Chief Executive Officer Tony Douglas said in an interview Wednesday. He said the focus will instead be on the smaller Boeing 787 Dreamliner. “The point really is to concentrate on the backbone, and the backbone for us is the 787,” Douglas said. The CEO’s comments underscore how far the pandemic is threatening to transform travel as airlines shift focus to shorter routes where demand is expected to recover faster, potentially at the expense of the globe-spanning super-hub model long championed by the three biggest Mideast carriers. Etihad once sought to go toe-to-toe in linking every corner of the planet with Qatar Airways Ltd. and Dubai-based Emirates, whose president, Tim Clark said Wednesday he expects hubs to survive. Yet even before the health crisis, Etihad had made some of the deepest fleet cuts in the industry as it tried to rein in losses and refocus the network on the needs of Abu Dhabi, the airline’s owner. Douglas said he doesn’t expect air travel to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2023, adding that he didn’t want to create “false certainty” in terms of a rebound.<br/>