Etihad Airways' all-economy service another move in addressing low yield markets

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Etihad Airways this month announced plans to introduce its first "all economy" class aircraft to its fleet in Oct-2010. This carrier will be the only non-LCC in the Middle East operating such a configuration, although the product bears some similarity to to the ‘Gulf Traveller’ product that CEO, James Hogan, introduced while heading Gulf Air. The purpose is mainly to tap into the high volume but low yielding markets more effectively. This segment is being addressed aggressively by neighbouring flydubai, based in Dubai and, a few kilometres further along the road in the UAE, the highly successful Sharjah-based Air Arabia. Other low cost airlines from outside the UAE are also targeting the UAE markets. Full service airlines around the world have long struggled with the decision whether to adopt a LCC subsidiary or to segment their operation in this way. In each case different considerations apply. Etihad, in treading the middle path, may have got it right in this market.

 

162-seat A320s to be utilised; to be one for the highest-density A320 configuration in the Middle East

 

Etihad’s two A320s will be configured with 162 economy-class seats (with 32-inch pitch), an increase of 42 from the current economy capacity, meaning it will operate one of the highest-density A320 configurations in the region (with only a few seats fewer than LCC, Jazeera’s, A320 configuration, five seats fewer than nasair’s all-economy configuration, and the same number of seats as Bahrain Air's two-class A320 configuration).

 

The all-economy Etihad aircraft will operate to short-haul destinations which have high demand for economy traffic and low demand for premium traffic. Initially these will be Alexandria, Calicut, Colombo, Damascus, Doha and Thiruvananthapuram.

 

Plans are in place to expand the all-economy fleet to ten A320 aircraft, with the carrier stating this would enable the carrier to “launch new short haul destinations which have low demand for premium travel and also to existing Etihad destinations”. Etihad is currently only the tenth largest carrier operating between the Middle East and India, so this all economy product is likely to form part of the carrier’s efforts to build its presence in this market.

 

Full report: http://www.centreforaviation.com/news/2010/08/11/etihad-airways-to-introduce-all-economy-services/page1

[alberttky 0]

Aircraft cross-utilisation is gonna be a problem...