Etihad CEO: We Won’t Be Reduced to ‘Boutique’ Airline Status

The new chief executive of Etihad Group says the company is still in its adolescence and wants to look at a fellow Middle East carrier for guidance. In his first public address, Tony Douglas told an audience he would learn from previous investment mistakes and would continue to grow instead of becoming a “boutique” airline.

In his first public comments, Etihad Group chief executive Tony Douglas said his airline would learn from their past partnership problems while committing to growing their global network. The speech was delivered at the Global Aerospace Summit in Abu Dhabi, the headquarter city of Etihad Airways.

The speech directly touched on the airline’s losses in 2016 due in part to the failed investments in other carriers, including Air Berlin. The revenue drop forced former leader James Hogan to leave his job on July 1, 2017. Instead of pursuing new partnerships as part of a growth strategy, Douglas said his airline was an “adolescent” in the commercial aviation marketplace and would continue to learn from their partner and fellow Middle East carrier, Emirates.

“What we have embraced properly is a way to develop growth in a sustainable way,” Douglas told the audience, according to Bloomberg. “We will choose wisely; we will make sure that detail is well-attended to.”

The youngest of the “Middle East Three,” Douglas believes the airline can find passenger growth by promoting Abu Dhabi as both a tourism and transportation hub. By using the capital city as a central hub, the goal is to take advantage of a growing demand for travel from developing markets.

“The geography plays to our advantage as well. Two-thirds of the world’s population lives within a 6-hour radius,” the executive said, as quoted by Khaleej Times. “One [China] observes a GDP growing in excess of 7 per cent. India has a middle class with disposable income and desire for air travel.”

Finally, Douglas is not content to let Etihad become a “boutique” carrier. Instead, growth is in the cards for the airline. The new leader noted their greatest challenges include how to continue to build network and maintain sustainable growth.

“At Etihad Airways, we have built something that is truly special and thrived for the past 15 years,” Douglas said, according to the Times. “But there is always a need to innovate, innovate and innovate.”

[Photo: Shutterstock]