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Etihad: Ascending further

The numbers of its contributions are getting bigger each year; recently it was revealed that it is expected to hire 1,000 pilots in the next five to six years as it has started receiving deliveries of aircraft it ordered four years ago.

Already, the airline has started a project to increase the number of its UAE-National pilots to 1,000 in 2020. At present, the fastest-expanding carrier has 1,531 pilots on its payroll. It also has a crew of 3,776 people out of a total strength of 12,614 employees spread across the world apart from the UAE.

“We have 520 cadets out of which 450 are Emiratis,” Capt Saleh Awadh Alfarjalla Al Ameri, senior vice-president for Aviation Security and Pilot Cadet Programme at Etihad Airways, recently told the media.

Since the cadet programme started in June 2007, 209 Emirati men and women have successfully graduated to start a flying career, he said.

The airline group supported 83,500 jobs in total.

The airline, which added 10 destinations to its route network in the past 12 months to make an impressive total of 96 cities worldwide flying a fleet of 83 aircraft, will receive the deliveries of four more aircraft in the fourth quarter of the year.

In the period 2014-20, the airline — which placed $43 billion worth of orders — is slated to receive the deliveries of 72 aircraft including 41 Boeing 787s, 10 Airbus A380s, 12 Airbus A350 and 11 Airbus A320s to expand its fleet size to 159 from the curent 83 in the third quarter.

The agreement signed in July 2008 for up to 205 aircraft was one of the largest orders in history.

In its quest to expand its fleet, Etihad Airways recently showed its intention to acquire five 777-200 LRs from Air India. After the refit, the aircraft will be delivered in April next that will allow it to fly them on its fast-growing North American market of New York, Chicago, Washington and other long-haul routes.

The airline has become an integral part of Abu Dhabi’s economy in the past 10 years; according to the latest study by Oxford Economics, the airline contributed a total of $10.7 billion to Abu Dhabi’s GDP in 2012, representing 10.5 per cent of non-oil GDP. In 2017, the contribution to Abu Dhabi’s economic growth would double to $20 billion, the UK-based think-tank projected.

The airline contributed $2.3 billion to Abu Dhabi’s economy last year and its indirect contribution was a little over $1.2 billion, in the shape of fuel purchases, maintenance, repair, airport rentals and landing fees, marketing advertising, IT ventures and communications. An induced GDP contribution of $1.1 billion and 15,434 additional jobs can be attributed to money spent during 2012 by employees of the airline and its partners.

— haseeb@khaleejtimes.com