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Etihad to Add 3 Aircraft

ABU DHABI - Etihad Airways will add three new aircraft to its fleet and open three new routes in 2010. This will push up the fleet strength of the airline to 55 and the number of routes to 57, said James Hogan, Chief Executive Officer, said.

All the three new aircraft will be from Airbus and two of them will passenger aircraft and the third will be a cargo plane. The Abu Dhabi-based airline will launch two new destinations in Japan and one in Sri Lanka.

“Etihad was not planning to launch any budget airline in the near future or was not intending to join any initiative that Abu Dhabi may be looking at,” Hogan said.

“We don’t have any such plans, but we can’t say whether Abu Dhabi has such plans or not,’’ he said.

The airline is optimistic about the business prospects in 2010 in both economy and business classes.

“We hope to achieve a load factor of 76 to 77 per cent this year. I’m excited about the growth prospects in Indian and Chinese markets. Even some Western routes like Chicago are performing well,” Hogan said.

“The outlook for the home market in the Middle East is also good for 2010, unless some unfortunate developments like the outbreak of pandemic happens,” he said.

“Cargo sector is also expected to perform well this year,” he added.

The airline had carried slightly less than seven million passengers last year, but hopes to fly more than seven million passengers this year.

Etihad is on track to realise target of achieving break even and make profits in 2011. “We will be able to realise this goal if we achieve the revenue levels of 2007 or 2008 in 2010 also,” Hogan said.

The recession had pushed down the yield of the airlines in 2009, as they had to push down fares to remain competitive.

“2009 was a terrible year as there was crash in the number of passengers as well as in the yield. I hope the situation will change in 2010 and the airlines will revise their structure upwards to rational levels. It will not be possible to run the airlines with such low yields. My suggestion is that the fares must go back to the levels of 2007 and 2008,” Hogan said.

In reply to a question, he said the airline is in comfortable position to meet the financial requirements for its expansion plans. “The recession has not forced Etihad to restructure its expansion plans, though we have flexible plans to factor in the changes in the global economic situations.”

“Etihad had placed a massive order for 205 planes in 2008, and that plans remain as they are,” Hogan said.

“It is remarkable achievement that Etihad could establish a brand name within such a short period of couple of years. People accept us because of the quality of our products,” he said.

Etihad is also hopeful of augmenting revenues from its other operations like holiday packages developed in collaboration with the hospitality groups in different countries. The Etihad Airways network will be expanded through codesharing deals with more airlines.

The airline is also planning to tighten the systems for monitoring excess weight in the hand-held luggage of the passengers, Hogan said.

ramavarman@khaleejtimes.com