Daily Chennai - Tamilnadu, India

Etihad Airways is making India the centrepiece of its growth plans.

“India is the cornerstone market for Etihad,” Iain Burns, vice-president of communications, told Gulf News yesterday.

“Both it and the UAE are growing into positions as world-class holiday and business destinations. As the second-fasted growing economy in world, India will demand frequent travel to the Middle East and this will continue for the foreseeable future.”

Top among its goals is the doubling of flights to Mumbai and New Delhi, two of Etihad’s most successful flights with seat factors of 80 per cent, compared to the carrier’s overall average of 67 per cent.

Two weeks ago, the airline concluded its latest round of bilateral talks with the Indian authorities over new air rights. The discussions yielded Etihad two new destinations, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, as well as increase from three to seven flights a week to New Delhi and an additional 15 seats per day on flights to Mumbai.

Additionally, Etihad has singled out Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabdad as potential new destinations.

The extra New Delhi flights will begin in June, as will the launch of Etihad’s four-times weekly Kochi service. Thrice-weekly flights to Thiruvananthapuram, in the southern state of Kerala, will begin in late May.

Etihad is borrowing up to $1.2 billion to finance the buying one aircraft every month this year, and Burns said two Airbus A340s with 240 seating capacity will be devoted to the Indian market.

Since 2005, one of Etihad’s stated aims was the doubling of its highly successful route to Mumbai, the commercial heart of India, from seven to 14 flights a week.

Gaining the necessary approvals has until now proved elusive, but Burns said this would be a hot topic when Etihad and the Abu Dhabi Government next meets with their Indian counterparts.

Adjusting flight times

Etihad Airways says its will increase in its seat load factor by eight per cent in the next eight months, after it modified its flight times to connect with more forwarding flights.

The Abu Dhabi airline’s planes are on average 67 per cent full, but this will rise to 75 per cent this year, said Iain Burns, vice president of communications.

“It’s going to jump because of changes to our scheduled flight times to Abu Dhabi to increase connecting ability from flights going west to east and north to south,” he told Gulf News.

Etihad’s new service to Sydney, for example, will be timed to coincide with the Dublin to Abu Dhabi route to give passengers the option of flying with Etihad the entire way.

“We’ve been doing a huge amount of work over the last six months to have far better connections for holiday makers and business travellers,” Burns said.

Categories: Business, General