As previously reported, Etihad Airways giving the chop as expected to the Airbus A380, but also in a very surprising announcement, it is also giving the chop to the Boeing 777, indefinitely as it continues its transformation into a mid-sized, smaller and more streamlined ’boutique’ operation.
Etihad CEO Tony Douglas made the shock announcement about the Boeing 777 at the World Aviation Festival on Thursday, saying, “We had got far too diversified when it came to fleet types to be operationally efficient.”
He added, “The ten A380s were a wonderful product, but they are no longer commercially sustainable”, adding that while they’ve been grounded since March 2020 and will now remain so indefinitely it is hard to imagine the superjumbos will have any role in Etihad‘s future.
Douglas said the future will also be without the Boeing 777-300ER after the end of this year, adding, “You will see of us a very focused, a very disciplined operating model which is heavily built around the fleet of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350-1000”.
With Etihad currently operating 19 Boeing 777-300ER aircraft with orders in place for 25 of the next-generation 777X series, Douglas said that it was too early to comment on how the Boeing 777X, which isn’t expected to begin flying until at least 2023, may or may not fit into the airline’s future fleet plans.
He said, “We’re now into midsize but commercially sustainable, and obsessive with customer service”, adding, “It’s the boutique end that is where we want to operate”, and “In so doing, the statement we’ve made clear is that the backbone of our fleet, for the medium term, is the 787.” [pictured].
Etihad has 39 787-9 and 787-10 Boeing 787 Dreamliners in its fleet and the airline has also taken delivery of five of the 20 Airbus A350-1000s ordered, although they’ve all flown straight into storage and have not yet carried passengers.
A report by John Alwyn-Jones
.jpg){kind=tracking}
