A further seven weekly frequencies have been granted to Etihad on the condition that the service operates via or to a regional airport. You can imagine the fight over those slots. Etihad currently operates 21 times weekly between Abu Dhabi and Australia, including 11 times weekly to Sydney, daily to Melbourne and three times weekly to Brisbane.
"The announcement that Etihad Airways has been granted up to 14 additional flights each week is an indication of the airline’s deepening bond with Australia. We are committed to this important market and look forward to carrying greater numbers of business and leisure travelers from destinations across Etihad’s expanding network to Australia. Etihad’s presence in Australia continues to grow considerably," James Hogan, CEO. Now wait and see what Emirates asks for. (Emirates has been denied plans to increase its number of services to Australia. The carrier had been lobbying to increase services from its current cap of 84 services a week.)
It should be clear these traffic rights are not to grow business to Abu Dhabi - few Australians want to spend more than an hour in the place. The traffic rights really are to serve the UK. Australians will like low fares and relatively higher levels of service. Qantas and BA therefore are seeing the traffic grow around and away from them. In order to keep the highest yielding traffic, Qantas and BA will have to come up with a code-shared non stop flight. That is all they have left to work with. And you know that Boeing and Airbus know this too. Now watch and see what happens.
In other news:
- Turkish is hot
- Koito fallout grows - Airbus leads
- Capacity is coming back outside the US
- The re-engine debate
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