‘The future of airline competition’
Etihad Airways President and CEO James Hogan emphasised the importance of consumer choice and innovation as the fundamental drivers of competition in the international airline industry during a conversation before approximately 4,000 attendees at the 2015
On emerging opportunities and challenges in the global aviation industry, Hogan says, “Business and leisure travellers alike are demanding, and should rightly expect, choices in network, schedules, product and services, loyalty rewards, convenience, and price.
“What we bring to the market is competition, we bring fantastic choices in regard to product and services. We see strong demand in premium and we’re very focused on the business traveller, when you look at our lounges, when you look at the services that we provide to ensure that the trip is as seamless as it can be.”
Hogan highlighted the impact of rapidly growing markets like China, India and Southeast Asia on international traffic flows and traditional international hubs. He also emphasized Etihad’s unique approach to constantly innovating in order to better serve customers. “Innovation — one of the greatest things about travel in this era is the consumer can find out so much about your business. In our culture, we don’t have passengers, we have guests and that guest experience — whether it’s First Class, Business Class or economy — is fundamental, and treating the guest with respect,” Hogan said.
He further noted that Etihad competes on product in the markets in which it operates and that even as a relatively young airline, Etihad has already differentiated itself in the market and attracted global interest with the best-in-class offerings available across every class of service, which includes The Residence, Business Studios, Economy Smart Seats, in-flight chefs, butlers and flying nannies. Hogan also discussed Etihad’s unique business model which extends the airline’s organic growth through code-share partnerships and equity investments in key global airlines, including airberlin, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Aer Lingus, Alitalia, Jet Airways, Virgin Australia, and Swiss-based Darwin Airline. Hogan said, “Our equity strategy is about how we build our network. We work in a digital age where the consumer, whether it’s corporate or leisure, can go online and they look to points of the world they wish to travel. Now within that, we have a partnership with these airlines where we’re now strengthening our global network – top line generating revenue and bottom line tackling cost together."
In our culture, we don’t have passengers, we have guests and that guest experience is fundamental, and treating the guest with respect