Etihad Airways plans to soon connect India to North America, Europe and Africa

Etihad Airways, the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates plans to soon connect its Indian flights to North America, Europe and Africa. It is planning to introduce services to Cape Town, South Africa and Athens in Greece, while it also expects maximum opportunity from the North American operations. Neerja Bhatia, Country Manager-India, Etihad Airways informed that the airline will focus on the corporate segment for its operations to North America.

Earlier this month, the airline launched four times a week flights to Hyderabad, its seventh destination in India, and has already observed 75 per cent load factor in its first month of operations. The airline is operating on an A320 aircraft with a two class configuration: Business Class and Economy Class. The airline is planning to launch daily flights to Hyderabad by January 2010. It has also seen an increase in load factors from Kochi and is currently observing 90 per cent average load factor on its daily flights.

To combat the recession, the airline company adopted three steps to transform its Indian operations. This included replacing its wide bodied aircraft with the narrow bodied fleet.