Which cities in India would you like to expand to?

India is an important market. While we have presence here, we would like greater access to emerging cities such as Calicut, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Amritsar and Chennai. Besides, as airport infrastructure develops in Mumbai and Delhi, the airline would also like to increase operations there. The start of more flights, we feel, is good for the economy, the tourism sector, and it also helps create more jobs.

What will be your strategy for operating flights to the new cities?

We will have to see what the air services bilateral agreement offers. If it allows it, we would like to operate daily flights to the new cities for which we are granted rights. Otherwise we will look at operating three or four times a week at least.

Why should the Indian Government allow more traffic rights to airlines such as Etihad when a majority of the traffic carried is not to the hub but onwards?

Why should anyone have any fears? At the moment, almost 30 per cent of the traffic carried by the airline is for Abu Dhabi while the rest of the passengers connect to cities onwards. Over the next five years we expect that at least 40-45 per cent of the traffic will originate in Abu Dhabi. Besides, this is a common practice among almost all global carriers.

Why the push for flights to India?

In the next five years, Abu Dhabi plans to spend close to 150 billion euros on infrastructure development. We will require a variety of people there, right from domestic help, carpenters and masons to professionals such as doctors and nurses. These flights would act as a bridge for people, not only till Abu Dhabi but also for onward journeys.

The airline had a fleet of wide-body aircraft, but now is going for the narrow-body Airbus A-320 variety. Why the shift?

This is part of our step-by-step growth. The introduction of Airbus A-320 in the fleet is evolution of business. We are an airline that is less than four years old. The first step was to introduce the brand. Now that has happened and the brand has stabilised.

But using wide aircraft such as the Airbus A-330 or A-340 on short routes was not making optimum use of the equipment. Putting a wide-body aircraft that can fly non-stop on a long-haul sector, between say Abu Dhabi and Canada, on a short-haul sector such as within the Gulf, for a flight of about 45 minutes, was putting a lot of pressure on landing gear, use of fuel and engines. With the integration of the narrow aircraft into the fleet, we will free up wide-body capacity that can be utilised to launch flights to more long-haul destinations.

But wouldn’t the introduction of narrow-body aircraft on routes currently being operated by wide-body aircraft lead to a reduction of capacity available on these sectors?

On thin routes, the airline would rather operate an Airbus A-320 aircraft than a wide body one that would be 40-45 per cent full.

Does the airline have any specific investment plans for India?

As of now, there are no specific investment plans for India. But please remember that the airline has invested huge amounts in aircraft that are deployed on all routes, including those to India. Besides, every new destination sees investments in terms of opening of offices, infrastructure at the airport and hiring of staff.

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