After several years of struggle before and after the epidemic, Eti hard, based on Abu Davi, returns to profitability and is actually growing. Recently, the airline surprised almost everyone by announced that it would start the Charlotte service in May next year. Airline editor Robert Silk talked about the decision with Etihad Ceo Antonoaldo Neves at the IATA annual meeting in New Delhi this month..
Antono Aldo Nevs
cue: Why?
no way: It is a big and lacking market. There is no airline flying from the Middle East to Charlotte. Today I have a lot of immigration to Carolina. We are really excited. We think that is a unique value suggestion.
cue: Your partner Americans dominate the airport. Obviously the CodeShare business will be the core for you.
no way: It helps whenever you have an interline and code share. But we also have a market with less than 5%of our customers in code shades in the United States. I will not reveal the name of the city. But in the United States, it is between 5% and 25%. Charlotte can be 5%. We do not know.
cue: I read that even Charlotte Airport didn’t know that you would fly there a few days before the public announcement. What happens? There was speculation that Donald Trump was in the area at the time.
no way: We have a seven -year plan for your destination. Charlotte has been there for the last 3.5 years. Visiting Trump’s visit to the United Arab Emirates was a good marketing opportunity for us. So we were able to announce in March next year. And it was a plan. But our team said, “Why don’t you expect?” After all, why not it if we get a news report for free because of this? We planned to start negotiations with Charlotte Airport by the end of this year. But we called them. Is that a business? We must take all the opportunities to sell and sell tickets.
cue: On July 2, I started Atlanta flights and started Boston last year. Before 2017, he dropped Los Angeles, Dallas and San Francisco since 2017. If you add Charlotte, you will return to six US routes. Please tell me about the US strategy.
no way: Since we have customs preliminary management in Abu Dhabi, we are in a unique position to provide amazing experiences to the Gulf Cooperation Council, India and Southeast Asia and Americans. Think about Boston. Many customers connect beyond the partner JetBlue and Boston. You don’t have to pick up your bag. Next year, we will move to the US for about 40 weeks. That’s nothing. When I was in Tap Portugal, we had a frequency in the United States for about 20 to 30 weeks today. If you don’t make a mistake, there are 80 people every week. Eti hard thinks you can arrive someday, but you have to make it differently. But there’s no reason why you can’t double the capacity of the United States for the next five years.
cue: How many new destinations do you expect over those five years?
no way: Probably 3-5 days.
cue: How do you place yourself in the market with Saudi Arabia, even with the ambitious competitors of India, as well as Stalwarts Emirates and Qatar Airways?
no way: We are proud of what we are doing. The average global margin is 3%. Last year we did 6%. But we want more. I see Emirates 15%. Qatar is 9%. I want to get 10%, 12%, and 15%. In the future, muscles are needed to face recession and competition. The market is growing in this area, so I think there is a space for everyone to make money. We grew 25% last year. If we have a stronger carrier, we can grow pies, and we are ready to fight if the pie does not grow.
