Etihad aims to persuade more long-haul passengers to fly via Abu Dhabi
Etihad Airways is hoping to take advantage of congestion at Dubai airport to win new business for its Abu Dhabi home base, in the fiercely competitive market for long-haul flights routed through the Gulf. The airline wants to more than triple passenger numbers to 30mn by 2030, up from 13mn last year, by attracting more people to break their long-haul flights with a stopover in Abu Dhabi. Etihad, which is owned by Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, mainly competes on long-haul flights with Emirates, Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines. All four are expanding, though Etihad remains the smallest. Saudi Arabia is also planning to launch an airline next year. Etihad’s CE Antonoaldo Neves told the Financial Times that there was plenty of room and demand for Abu Dhabi to expand its aviation industry. “From an airline perspective, Dubai is really congested right now. There is not a lot of capacity left in Dubai, and . . . the UAE now has Abu Dhabi to grow,” he said. Dubai International airport, which is an hour’s drive from Abu Dhabi, handled 87mn passengers in 2023. Executives at its biggest airline Emirates have said it could soon run out of space there. A new airport capable of handling up to 230mn people a year is being built but will not be open for years. Since he was appointed in 2022, Neves has steered away from direct competition with Emirates and Qatar Airways on “ultra-long-haul” flights that link cities like New York and Sydney via one stop in the Gulf. “That’s not my fight . . . other airlines like Emirates do it very well,” he said. Instead, Etihad has focused on opening up new markets, putting on multiple flights a day to destinations such as Mumbai, Oman and Riyadh that are between one to three hours from Abu Dhabi. Neves said he was confident that a global shortage of aircraft and spare parts means there is little danger of overexpansion. “Impossible, there are no planes,” he said. “The market is so artificially constrained . . . I was at a conference today and a guy said: can you sell me a plane?”<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2024-10-14/unaligned/etihad-aims-to-persuade-more-long-haul-passengers-to-fly-via-abu-dhabi
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Etihad aims to persuade more long-haul passengers to fly via Abu Dhabi
Etihad Airways is hoping to take advantage of congestion at Dubai airport to win new business for its Abu Dhabi home base, in the fiercely competitive market for long-haul flights routed through the Gulf. The airline wants to more than triple passenger numbers to 30mn by 2030, up from 13mn last year, by attracting more people to break their long-haul flights with a stopover in Abu Dhabi. Etihad, which is owned by Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, mainly competes on long-haul flights with Emirates, Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines. All four are expanding, though Etihad remains the smallest. Saudi Arabia is also planning to launch an airline next year. Etihad’s CE Antonoaldo Neves told the Financial Times that there was plenty of room and demand for Abu Dhabi to expand its aviation industry. “From an airline perspective, Dubai is really congested right now. There is not a lot of capacity left in Dubai, and . . . the UAE now has Abu Dhabi to grow,” he said. Dubai International airport, which is an hour’s drive from Abu Dhabi, handled 87mn passengers in 2023. Executives at its biggest airline Emirates have said it could soon run out of space there. A new airport capable of handling up to 230mn people a year is being built but will not be open for years. Since he was appointed in 2022, Neves has steered away from direct competition with Emirates and Qatar Airways on “ultra-long-haul” flights that link cities like New York and Sydney via one stop in the Gulf. “That’s not my fight . . . other airlines like Emirates do it very well,” he said. Instead, Etihad has focused on opening up new markets, putting on multiple flights a day to destinations such as Mumbai, Oman and Riyadh that are between one to three hours from Abu Dhabi. Neves said he was confident that a global shortage of aircraft and spare parts means there is little danger of overexpansion. “Impossible, there are no planes,” he said. “The market is so artificially constrained . . . I was at a conference today and a guy said: can you sell me a plane?”<br/>
