The fact that 40 million Indians travel abroad annually and that Etihad is the smallest of the three Gulf carriers were among the reasons that the Abu Dhabi-headquartered airline decided to acquire a 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways, James Hogan, Chief Executive Officer, Etihad Airways, said while participating in a panel discussion at the 71st annual general meeting of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

This is probably the first time that the reasons for Etihad investing in Jet Airways have been made public. Etihad acquired a stake in Jet Airways for close to Rs 2,000 crore in April 2012. When the deal was being finalised Jet officials had merely talked about Gateway Abu Dhabi, which allowed Indians the option of travelling abroad to more places.

Since the agreement was concluded not only has Etihad increased the frequency of flights that it operates to India but Jet Airways has also started operations from several new cities in India to Abu Dhabi.

Attempts by the Indian media present at the AGM to get more details about how many more Indians are now travelling abroad on-board Etihad and Jet were stonewalled by Hogan and Jet Airways’ promoter Naresh Goyal. While Hogan merely shook hands with the Indian media and said ``no interviews” Naresh acknowledged the greetings and moved away from the waiting media as he hobnobbed with various Chief Executives and other airlines’ representatives present at the event.

Since the deal was announced, James Hogan and Etihad’s Chief Financial Officer James Rigney have been appointed as additional directors at Jet. In addition, in March this year, Jet Airways was given permission by the Government to start dedicated freighter services using two aircraft wet leased from Etihad.

(This correspondent is in Miami at the invitation of the International Air Transport Association)

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