Etihad CEO believes there’s lots of equity in the airline’s strategy
Photo Credit: James Hogan, Etihad's CEO, at the SITA 2013 Air Transport IT Summit near Brussels June 20, pointing to the airline's strategy as a key differentiator from its airline rivals. SITA Online
Skift Take
Etihad's aggressive strategy to take equity stakes in five other airlines, and to take advantage of the resulting economies of scale makes a lot of dollars and sense.
Etihad Airways CEO James Hogan never mentioned Emirates or Qatar Airways by name, but he spoke about how he believes Etihad's business model and strategy provide a benefit in its battle with the airline's "two nearest competitors."
Speaking at SITA's 2013 Air Transport IT Summit today outside Brussels, Hogan noted that people representing 138 nationalities work for the airline, that it has 45 codeshares, eschews the big three airline alliances (as does Emirates), and can fly passengers to some 475 destinations, "more than my nearest competitors."
But, the largest differentiation may be in Etihad's investment and collaboration strategy as it has taken equity stakes in four other airlines, including airberlin (29%), Air Seyche
