Etihad CEO slams moves to shut out Gulf carriers

The CEO of Etihad Airways has again hit out at international claims that the Gulf carriers are stealing traffic by insisting that new competition is helping the overall industry grow. “Trying to shut Gulf carriers out, be that in Europe or Canada or anywhere else, is short-term thinking, at best,” James Hogan said, during a speech at the National Aviation Press Club in Sydney. “Protecting a market from free competition is always the last resort of the desperate; it merely obscures brutal truths.” Hogan also claimed that European carriers’ perception that the region does not generate new traffic was “laughable”, and hinted that legacy airlines’ best days were behind them. “There is no need any longer for passengers to fly back on themselves out of European hubs to reach their final destination, or to fly with airlines that were in their heyday in the mid 1980s,” he said. Abu Dhabi-based Etihad and the region’s two other aviation giants, Emirates and Qatar Airways, have seen astonishing growth in the last decade or so through their strategy to connect long-haul passengers to different continents via hubs in the Gulf. In a wide-ranging speech, Hogan also outlined how the carrier’s growth strategy over the next decade. He said that cash generated by codeshare agreements had accounted for 20 percent of Etihad’s revenues in 2011 – the year in which the airline made its first profit. In addition, Hogan also hinted that further equity investments were on the cards. “We think there are probably one or two more deals we can do,” the CEO said.  “That could be in America, in Europe, in India, or even here in Australia. Certainly, there is no shortage of attractive options. “Today, we are looking to move beyond codeshares, into equity partnerships that open up vast markets and allow us to compete with would-be rivals who would rather not compete with us,” he added. In December, Etihad bought a 29 percent stake in airberlin, which Hogan said would add $50m in annual revenue to both airlines’ coffers. It has also taken a 40 percent stake in Air Seychelles.