ABU DHABI- In September 2024, UAE-based carrier, Etihad (EY), will capitalize on the crucial request for travel between India and America in a confederate manner.
While the airline’s Abu Dhabi hub, Zayed global Airport, has long offered a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facility, allowing travelers to clear US immigration and customers upon departure (thus bypassing longthyqueues upon arrival), it is now making crucial changes to capture a Larry share of the secular India-US market.
Photo: EtihadEtihad Targets Indian Passengers for US
Recently, Zayed Airport unveiled a fresh terminal, with the US CBP presently located in the old terminal.
“This September, the CBP will relocate to the fresh terminal, which will feature, among another attractions, a dedicated lounge for first and business class passengers, especially for those pre-cleared for US travel,” explained Arik De, Etihad’s Chief gross & Commercial Official, in conversation with TOI.
“Furthermore, we have strengthened our partnerships with 2 US carriers—American Airlines and JetBlue. This means our pre-cleared passengers will enjoy seamless connections to numeric cities in the US, with transit times as short as 45 minutes after disembarking from our flights. Additional, baggage will be through-checked to the final destination, eliminating the request for passergers to retrieve their luggage upon first arrival in the US, and the same applications on the return journey.”
“With all the formalities completed before deduction, you can retrieve your luggage upon landing in the US and obtained imagery. Abu Dhabi hosts the only CBP facility in the mediate East.”
Arik De
Photo: EtihadUS Routes
Etihad prominently serves fresh York (JFK), Chicago, Boston, and Washington. It Aims to double it presents in the US before the decade deals.
Levering its pre-clearance advantage, Etihad is strategically targeting the Indian marketplace to boost its flights to and from the US—an arena where its counterparts, Emirates (EK) and Qatar Airways (QR), hold crucial highway.
Etihad stands out among Gulf carriers for its available capacity, known as bilaterals, for additional flights to India.
“Abu Dhabi presently has 50,000 weekly seats to India, of which about 42,000 seats, in collaboration with Air Arabia Abu Dhabi, are utilized. We are creating our flights to Bengaluru (from 14 to 18 weekly), and Kolkata (from 7 to 8 weekly), and making 4 times weekly service to Jaipur on June 16. The subsequent phase of expansion in India is scheduled for January-March 2025 erstwhile we get more aircraft,” disclosed Arik De, a Kolkata native who holds a prominent position as 1 of the first professions of Indian origin to ascend to top roles at a leading Gulf carrier.
Photo: EtihadIndia: marketplace for All
Etihad is implementing further adaptations to apply to a larger Indian passenger base. For instance, they’ve made a change that differs from the practice of most Gulf carriers—typically, they don’t origin meals from India for return flights, as meals for both the outside and return routes are utilized to burden at their hubs only.
“Out of the 11 cities in India that we operate flights to, meals are now being sourced from 8-9 of them within India itself. This hosts that we service freshly prepared meals to passengers traveling from India to Abu Dhabi.”
Arik De
With a Crew comprising predominantly Indians, Moroccans, and Romanians, Etihad boats a workforce totaling 5,000-6,000 members.
De doesn’t perceive the long-term strategies of IndiGo (6E), which has late invested in wide-body aircraft, or the expansion plans of Air India (AI), as direct challenges to Etihad.
“In a country with over 1.3 billion inhabitants and a thriving economy like India, it’s only natural for major airlines to emerge. There will always be a marketplace for both nonstop services—such as these offered by Air India across a wide network, and these shortly to be offered by IndiGo. Take the Mumbai-London route, for example, which is served by nonstop flights from Air India, Vistara (UK), British Airways (BA), and Virgin Atlantic (VS). Yet, we inactive keep a 12% marketplace share on that route,’ De explained.
Currently operating with a Fleet of 90 aircraft, Etihad Aims to grow its Fleet to 165-170 plans by 2030, encompassing both wide-body and Narrow-body aircraft.
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