Etihad Airways, which operates 185 flights every week throughout 11 Indian cities, is banking on premium travel experience, buyer segmentation and strategic partnerships to drive its enterprise development within the nation, which is among the many prime three international markets for the airline, stated an official of the Abu Dhabi-based carrier.
Unable to increase by extra flights, the airline is specializing in “good methods” to develop its India revenues, and central to those plans is upgrading its product providing to draw high-value travellers, Etihad Airways Vice President for World Gross sales and Distribution Javier Alija informed PTI.
The service is utilizing 100 per cent of its allotted capability below the bilateral settlement between India and the UAE, which caps 50,000 seats per week for Abu Dhabi-based airways.
“We fly to 11 cities. We fly all of the seats that the bilateral settlement permits us,” Alija informed PTI in an interview.
The 50,000-seat restrict is shared between Etihad and Air Arabia Abu Dhabi.
“Till there’s a change within the bilateral settlement, a dialogue solely for the governments, we won’t be able so as to add extra frequencies or locations,” he stated.
The airline can be “tapping partnerships to beat capability constraints” and has tied up with Akasa Air, which now connects 4 Indian cities to Abu Dhabi in cooperation with Etihad, he stated.
For long-haul travellers, particularly these certain for america, Alija underlined the benefits of transiting by Abu Dhabi’s new airport terminal, describing it as a “nice and environment friendly” hub.
Etihad can be the one airline within the area providing US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) pre-clearance in Abu Dhabi, permitting passengers to reach within the US as home travellers-saving time at immigration, he stated.
“Even when our frequencies and locations stay static, these customer-focused and operational efforts guarantee Etihad continues to be the popular airline for Indian travellers,” Alija stated.
Kolkata has turn into the primary Indian metropolis to obtain Etihad’s new A321 LR plane, that includes a redesigned, widebody-like cabin expertise.
The plane offers seats for under 160 passengers – two first-class suites with doorways, 14 in enterprise class and 144 in economic system class – nicely under the everyday 240-seat configuration on this mannequin.
“That is an industry-first inside designed to recreate the widebody expertise,” Alija stated, including that the deployment displays Kolkata’s sturdy premium journey potential.
The airline’s shift in direction of yield optimisation and operational effectivity has paid off, he stated.
It not too long ago reported the most effective monetary leads to its historical past, pushed by larger income and environment friendly capability deployment.
For the present 12 months too, the service expects 21-22 per cent development in manufacturing (seat capability), 22-23 per cent rise in income, and 30 per cent development in absolute revenue backed by expansions within the different markets, in accordance with the official.
Etihad prepares to launch a further 13 new routes earlier than the year-end in varied worldwide markets as Abu Dhabi is gaining prominence as a worldwide tourism and enterprise centre, Alija stated.
The airline is geared as much as take friends on to virtually 90 locations worldwide, he stated, including that it stays targeted on sustaining development with out eroding profitability.
“We’re very acutely aware that our speedy development mustn’t compromise the monetary features we have now achieved,” he added.
