·
Air Arabia
and Etihad Airways discuss how airlines are evolving for the future at ATM 2022
·
Efficiency
has helped airlines to adapt to market challenges
· Aviation industry stakeholders need to work together to meet sustainability goals
Dubai, United Arab
Emirates (UAE), 11 May 2022: The future of international travel and tourism came under the spotlight yesterday
(Tuesday 10 May) on the Global Stage at the 2022 edition of the Arabian Travel
Market (ATM).
During a session entitled ‘Airlines
evolving for the future’ hosted by John Strickland, Director, JLS Consulting, Adel
Abdullah Al Ali, Board Member and Group Chief Executive Officer, Air Arabia and
Tony Douglas, Group Chief Executive Officer, Etihad Aviation Group, shared
insights from the COVID pandemic and the strategies they are adopting as the
world emerges from the unprecedented challenges of recent years.
The discussion at ATM followed a successful partnership between the two UAE airlines in July 2020, which saw the launch of Air Arabia Abu Dhabi. Opening the session, Al Ali said: “It has been a difficult two years, but I believe as an industry, we have adapted to meet those challenges. The period also forced the airline industry to reflect on what was working and what wasn’t. In our case, this has led to an even greater focus on efficiency.”
Air Arabia achieved profits across
each quarter of 2021, with the codeshare agreement with Etihad Airways playing
a major role in its success. The airline has recently launched 44 new routes
and is preparing to take two new airlines to the skies this summer with ‘Fly
Jinnah’ in Pakistan, and ‘Fly Arna’ in Armenia. Air Arabia’s 60-strong fleet is
expected to triple in the coming months with 120 aircraft on order and a goal
of 160-200 planes by the year 2030. Despite this planned expansion, Al Ali
remains firmly focused on efficiency, “Our philosophy has been that size
doesn’t matter to Air Arabia, profitability does.’’
Douglas echoed this sentiment: “Leading
up to 2017, Etihad Airways was heavily focused on accelerated growth leading to
the airline becoming overstretched. Big is not necessarily beautiful and what
you can commercially sustain from a profitability point of view is the name of
the game moving forward.”
When Douglas took the reins at Etihad Airways in 2017, he
kick-started a radical restructuring which aimed to create an airline where the
fleet was driven by the network, rather than the network being driven by the
fleet. This formula proved to be a success, and Etihad achieved its best ever performance
in Q1 2020. Around this period, and as the pandemic hit, the airline reduced
its fleet size. This strategy, along with the partnership with Air Arabia has
proved fruitful, signalling a new era for the airline.
In Q1 2022, performance for Etihad Airways was $272.2
million EBITDA and the carrier is expanding its fleet with new deliveries of
the Airbus A350 and the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner - representing a new generation
of aircraft which offer a more environmentally sustainable mode of travel.
“The
sustainability challenge for aviation will be around for generations to come
and the physics of flight doesn’t represent an easy answer any time soon. The
new airliners are poster children to demonstrate what is feasible and
achievable today. To really make an impact, airlines, governments,
manufacturers, regulators and policy makers – as well as consumers - need to
work together to make a significant environmental impact.
The Airbus A350 and the Boeing 787-9 bring up to 25% more
fuel efficiency than their predecessors and recent ‘sustainability flights’
conducted by Etihad showed savings of 40 minutes of flight time and six tonnes
of C02 on the 6.5-hour flight sector. Etihad has also been working with corporations
on a green loyalty programme, ‘Conscious Choices’ where companies can offset
their carbon footprint against environmental initiatives. At ATM 2022, Etihad is showcasing the
interiors of the A350, which includes an all-new F&B proposition that
focuses on reducing single use plastics by 80%.
Both airlines are looking to the future with optimism. “It’s great to be getting back to normality and my
experience at ATM 2022 so far has shown a huge pent-up demand for travel”, said
Douglas. Al Ali added, “While higher fuel prices represent an obvious
challenge, we expect the demand for travel in this region to remain strong and
are hopeful for the future.”
ATM 2022 concluded today (Thursday
12 May). For full details on the remainder of the schedule including topics,
organisers and participant bios visit:
https://www.wtm.com/atm/en-gb/whats-on/atm-conference-programme.html#/sessions.
If you are planning to attend ATM in-person, please feel
free to post using the hashtags #ImGoingtoATM
and #ATMDubai
Tags: ATM 2022
