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Etihad Airways Launches Dh257Million
First-Class Cabin Product

DUBAI — Etihad Airways launched a Dh 257 million first-class cabin product on Monday amidst a worldwide trend downwards of premium 
class travellers.

The announcement, by Chief Executive Officer James Hogan at the Arabian Travel Market at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, came even as Hogan predicted a “fairly tough” second quarter.

“In any business no-one can take their eye off the ball,” Hogan said.

“Competition for premium customers remains intense and during the last 12 months a number of airlines have unveiled significant enhancements to their first- class cabins, with others deciding to remove the cabin completely.” Hogan said the four-year-old airline, which has a breakeven goal of 2010, had met all its targets so far, including the first quarter of this year.

While Hogan admitted the airline’s first class sector, as part of a worldwide trend, had been negatively affected.

Hogan said multinational companies were the first to cut back first class travel but said the airline’s business-class cabin was achieving an average 75 per cent load factor across the network.

“Seat factor is not the issue – yield is,” Hogan said. Routes from South East Asia and the GCC remained higher yielding but flights from Europe and Australia were heavily discounted.

To cater to the changing travel market, largely impacted by economic downturn, the airline has redeployed aircraft such as swapping wide body for narrow body aircraft on India and Pakistan routes and delaying the launch of a route to Lagos, Nigeria from this year to 2010. The traditionally strong summer program would prove important, Hogan said.

Hogan said he could not predict when the economic slump would begin to improve but said when it did, the airline would be ready with its premium product.Etihad’s new first-class cabin, involving 12 individual suites and an 80.5 inch fully-flat bed, will begin rolling out on the first plane – an A340 by August before the rest of the fleet is retrofitted by 2010.

The airline had not yet finalised what destinations the cabin would start on but the airline’s launch to Chicago was being considered. Hogan expressed confidence especially with Etihad’s base in Abu Dhabi the centre of the capital’s $200billion infrastructure development. The development – the 2030 plan – is “full steam ahead”. Figures show 52 per cent of passenger traffic is Abu Dhabi bound rather than through traffic.
— zoe@khaleejtimes.com