What Is Etihad Airways All About?
 

Seen a bit of the promo work and website for this airline recently. They are describing themselves as the national airline of the emirates, which I had thought was previously Emirates/Gulf Air. Is the UAE government looking to pull the plug on Gulf?

The service offering on Etihad looks quite interesting they seem to have styled themselves heavily upon Emirates, even down to the web site, but the seating config appears to be more attractive seeming to be 2-2-2 in J and F.

Has anyone actually experienced their product? Probably not ideal for me given the limited schedule at present but definitely interesting.

New startup airline
 

Etihad is another flag carrier of the emirates. Remember that the UAE has multiple emirates. From press reports, I understand that they are positioning to be an LCC (Low cost carrier). They have applied for some routes to India at a price point below a lot of current fares. I do not think they are after premium service or FF incentives.

Etihad Airways
 

Etihad Airways was set up by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, which also owns a large stake in Gulf Air. As the richest Emirate in the UAE, they have wanted to set up their own airline for a long time to steal some thunder from Emirates, which is owned by the government of Dubai. While they have low fares at the moment, they are not a no-frills airline like Sharjah's Air Arabia. In fact, their stated aim is to offer premium service at a resonable cost.

I thought it was the government of the UAE that owned the stake in GF, and that GF were based in Abu Dhabi as it is the capital?

GF also has bases in Muscat (Oman) and Bahrain, they had Qatar too until the Qatari governemnt pulled out to form Qatar Airways. I wonder what the future is for GF, I believe they are not in the best of financial health and surely this region cannot support 4 longhaul operators?

An interesting "fact" about Etihad Airways.

Originally, they had advertised a Business, Premium Economy and Economy service at 75" pitch, 48" pitch and 32" pitch respectivelly. However, later they changed it to a First, Business Economy service, meaning the rather attractive ads (75" in J vs 48" in EK, 48" In Premium vs 38" in BA & 32" in Economy vs 31-34" on EK) were no longer valid. Now Etihads service is much closer to Emirates

Excellent question Land-of-Miles. GF service :td: is really not up-to-par with that of Emirates, so they are indeed in need of some MAJOR overhaul if they are to survive and thrive. How long will the UAE keep supporting GF with Emirates and Etihad around?

There is a recent trip report of the Etihad product in Y here:

http://www.airliners.net/discussions...ad.main/54896/

.... every sheikh of every emirate has their favorite pet project. :D

... in any event Abu Dhabi and Dubai (and their Emirs) compete; and this may be just another area for acquring bragging rights.

That's it young man, you are grounded... No X-Box, no television... Oh, and no playing with your airline either... You hear me??? :p :D

I would love to start my own airline, but I heard those endeavors can set you back a few dollars ;) .

:D

.... well, it may be that many investors in many airlines have not done too well historically and any wise parent would tell their child "not with my money". But what does one tell an adult who thinks "L'etat c'est moi." :D

:D How true... At least they've got the money to "play" around with it... Now who will invest in my airline :p :D .

With Oil at $50 a barrel these guys can afford expensive toys. :D

:D ... and it only costs something like $1 or $1.50 to "produce" a barrel of oil. Not a bad mark-up :rolleyes: :D .