TTN spoke to ADRIAN PARKES, vice president sales Etihad Airways, the Abu Dhabi based national airline of the UAE.
How has 2008 fared for the company?
2008 has been marked by significant growth of Etihad’s international network, aircraft fleet, passenger numbers and product development. It launched six new destinations in 2008: starting flights to Beijing in March; the Indian cities of Kozikhode (Calicut) and Chennai (Madras) and Minsk, the capital city of Belarus in August; and the Russian capital, Moscow and Almaty in Kazakhstan in December. This brings to 50 the number of destinations served by the airline.
Etihad also boosted its flying programme to Australia, with an increase in its existing daily service to Sydney to 11 flights per week and added a third daily flight to London Heathrow.
The new services have performed well since being launched contributing to Etihad’s overall seat factor average of 76 per cent.
The airline expects to carry more than six million passengers by the end of year, with average seat factors forecast to be 75 per cent. The number of passengers has grown from 340,000 in 2004 to one million in 2005, 2.8 million in 2006 and 4.6 million in 2007.
What impact has the current economic climate had on the company?
Etihad is not seeing traffic decline and continues to perform extremely well in all markets despite the current economic conditions and against an industry backdrop that remains extremely challenging.
Etihad’s seat factor stood at 74 per cent during November and, although there has been a growing trend of late bookings across the network, the high numbers of passengers flying with Etihad look set to remain towards the end of the year. We remain well on track to achieve our target of flying six million passengers by the end of the year.
Are there plans to continue introducing new destinations in 2009?
Etihad continues to expand its global flight network and has already announced plans to fly to Lagos in Nigeria and Melbourne in Australia in March 2009. Additional new routes are also expected next year and will be announced in due course.
What is the single most important challenge you are looking to overcome in 2009?
Undoubtedly the global economic downturn will be the major issue facing the travel trade in 2009. This will affect everyone in the industry and no one is immune.
What can we see onboard Etihad in 2009?
We will announce new innovations in 2009, especially in online services to assist passengers at all junctures of their journey. Web check-in and booking are already available but greater services such as self-service kiosks and mobile check-in are also being looked at. Etihad is also set to unveil new interior product in 2009, details of which will be announced during the year.