Wow. Not only did Etihad cancel a lot of new plane orders last year, but now the airline is selling over three dozen of their long haul aircraft, some of which are still in service, and some of which the airline has already retired.
Continue reading: Etihad Selling 38 Aircraft For $1 Billion
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I noticed recently that around May Etihad is going from 2x daily flights JNB to AUH to 1x flight, I wonder if this is why.
I know this as I had booked 3x award tickets JNB-AUH-JFK for a family trip. Due to the cancellation of our JNB to AUH flight we went from an 8pm departure to a 10am departure that day which does not work for us. I have been trying helplessly to get Etihad to move everything forward a day so we would leave at 10am the following day, but they say since the ticket was booked using AA miles and ticketed by AA must deal with it and naturally AA points to EY. Even after getting an Etihad ticketing rep and someone from the AA EXP desk on the phone together today they couldn't/wouldn't solve the issue.
I kind of disagree to the comment above. Virgin Atlantic has a similar strategy to them and they have done a decent job in executing it (I would say their other problems aren't related to this). I think the way they failed was how they executed it. They should have sold it to Emirates and kept their luxury aspect but skimmed down on their capacity. I think Emirates and Etihad would've worked well together, with EK being so big and EY being the boutique airline.
Whatever James Hogan touch, it will be doom!
From British Midland, to Gulf Air to Etihad.
What a waste of money!
CLICKBAIT ALERT !!!!!!!!
Selling is not the same as Sale and lease back.
Sale-Lease back is a lot more common than you think.
This only indicates a new strategy but can be for so many reasons.
Ben, what are you basing your assessment that Etihad "is no longer looking to become a massive global airline, but rather wants to become a smaller airline primarily serving Abu Dhabi"? IMHO, it would be a strange mindset to have just as they are finally about to move out of their current abysmal facilities, with tons of busing, into a massive new terminal, which will instantly make them far more attractive and competitive.
Etihad has already taken delivery of the A350s, however for some unknown reason Etihad has sent them into long-term storage and is hoping to put them into service in 2021.
It's a standard sale and leaseback arrangement, pretty common in the financial world. Airasia did something very similar in late 2018, a deal to sell up to US$1.2bn of aircraft. No one thought it strange then! And this deal isn't unusual in the least
James Hogan (he left Etihad in mid 2017 right?) was once with Gulf Air.. Some people in GCC never learn .
Until a couple of years ago everyone called Etihad a super connector. Along with Emirates and Qatar Airways, Etihad was one of the companies that specialised in taking people from everywhere in the world via Abu Dhabi. But now that Etihad is hanging up its super connector hat they are transitioning into Oman air or Gulf air on steroids. That leaves a space open for a replacement super connector and all indications point towards Turkish Airlines filling the spot when Etihad bows out.
FYI, Air Serbia is not an unprofitable airline, as it's made profits since Etihad invested in 2013
So they supposedly lost $5B in the last 3 years. What was their earnings the previous 3 years before than? Have they ever earned $5B in their history?
I saw a story where they hope to be out of the red by 2023. That is another 3 years of losses.
AirSerbia made a small profit every year since Etihad invested ranging from € 900.000 to €12.000.000 in 2018 thus making it the only non- failed investment
This is a no brainer. They are not charging their customers enough for what they want to offer. Either they cut reduce cost or charge more and lose customers. People purchase ebase on price. Premium cabins purchased with points etc.