Etihad Has Some Big Plans. 30+ New Routes & Retrofitting Cabins
Intro
Etihad has been all over the aviation news in the past couple of days for a multitude of reasons. However, the most exciting aspect they talked about is how they will be retrofitting their older planes with brand-new seats. Additionally, they have dropped a clue that the airline will fly to an unthinkable destination in the US. Let's get into it!
The Retrofit
Etihad has quite a few older aircraft that are in dire need of getting a refurb. While details have remained very limited on what any new products would be for any cabin, we can expect to see the 787s, A380s, and 777s all receive new cabins in the coming years. If I had to take a guess, Etihad would probably retrofit the 777s and 787s with the Element seat that is being installed on newer 787s in their fleet.
However, they could opt to go with the product they have on their A350s or a completely new product. Only time shall tell!
30+ New Routes
Etihad's chief revenue and commercial officer has just announced an exciting development for the company:
“The date to watch out for is November 25, when we will announce 11 new cities. And then, next year, around January or February, we’re going to announce 20 more cities. So we have a lot of growth coming. We are growing at 40% each year. We will be bigger than 2017 at some point next year.”
Wow, this is exciting! Considering where Eithad was some years ago and that they were looking to condense as an airline, it seems that they have had a really big shift in strategy! I am curious, though, as to how they will be fueling this expansion, considering a lot of their new aircraft are on backorder at the moment...
My guess is these will be announcements of routes for the coming years, and most of them will not launch in 2024.
Final Thoughts
Etihad has come out with a lot of groundbreaking news in the aviation world. For starters, the older cabins of the 777s, 787s, and A380s will all be getting retrofits, although I doubt the apartments will change. Additionally, Etihad plans to launch 30 new routes to different destinations around the world in the coming years. What an exciting look for an airline that was trying to condense a few years ago!
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