Etihad Foresees Innovation Driven by Competition from Indian Airlines on Global Routes

According to a company official, UAE’s Etihad Airways has ambitious plans for growth in India and is not worried about Indian airlines launching more services to destinations in West Asia. Salil Nath, the head of Etihad Airways for the Indian subcontinent, stated that such competition would spur innovation as the sector expands, satisfying the pent-up demand created by the pandemic.

Etihad Airways

“We are presently flying to 62 destinations globally, and this year, we will add six more destinations with Kolkata being the first. We are expanding rapidly. Additionally, we have started increasing the frequency of our services on key routes from India this month,” Nath said.

He further explained, “On March 26, we resumed services on the Kolkata-Abu Dhabi route and launched two daily flights from Ahmedabad and Chennai, as well as six more flights from Kochi per week. Etihad will operate three daily services from Delhi and Mumbai starting from April 24.”

According to Nath, the travel sector has experienced a rapid recovery since the pandemic due to a significant amount of pent-up demand for travel.

He added that this pent-up demand is still present and shows no signs of slowing down. Nath hopes that this trend will continue throughout 2023 and into 2024.

When asked about the increase in competition from Indian carriers expanding their international flights, Nath stated that competition is always welcome, as it motivates the industry to innovate. Despite this, he emphasized that the airline has an aggressive growth plan, which is progressing well. He also acknowledged that Indian carriers may add some flights, but it does not significantly affect the airline’s strategies.

Regarding the high airfares, Nath explained that they are a result of the supply and demand cycle. As demand decreases, airfares will subsequently decrease as well.

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