Etihad refocuses on strategy in post-Hogan era

Since Etihad Airways’ former chief, James Hogan, stepped down in July, the airline is refocusing on its operations strategy.

Asked how the postHogan era has been for Etihad thus far, CEO Peter Baumgartner said: “It was a good opportunity for Etihad Airways to take stock and reflect on the future in the next five years very concretely and the next 10 years in a solitary direction.”

Reflecting on the strategy, he said: “First of all, it was not an overnight departure of James Hogan. There was an introduction of a group structure already [in place] at the beginning of last year. And it was a carefully planned succession which happened earlier this year with a lot of continuity.

“So the reflection about the future has not been triggered by the departure of James Hogan but by us being at this stage of a development, where many of the planning parameters from that time and strategic decisions that had been taken have changed.”

Asked if there was a change in strategy that Etihad was bringing into place now, Baumgartner said it’s important to reflect on the current plans, and potentially rethink some part of those plans for a “successful future”.