DUBAI — Etihad Airways has unveiled details at the Dubai Air Show of a major investment programme to upgrade its expanding fleet, including a contract to install its luxurious new first class suites on board its wide-body aircraft.
The Abu Dhabi-based airline has awarded Lufthansa Technik the contract to replace the airline’s existing first class seat with its new BE Aerospace first class suite in nine Airbus A340 aircraft currently in service by the end of 2010. The engineering and conversion work involves a complete renovation of the cabin, galley areas and a new in-flight entertainment system.
Etihad also announced an agreement with aviation IT specialist Lufthansa Systems which will see the airline use the industry-leading flight planning solution Lido/Flight.
The contract with Lufthansa Systems, which also includes a number of Lido/Flight add-ons and benefits, will see the Abu Dhabi-based airline optimise its operations by significantly reducing its fuel costs and emissions, whilst also benefiting from more efficient flight planning processes.
Drawing on its own powerful database, Lido/Flight uses a number of parameters to calculate the optimal route for each flight, which can lead to cost savings of up to five per cent.