Ted Reed reports that Etihad’s decision to launch Charlotte flights is attributable to President Trump’s Mideast trip. They weren’t even talking to the airport beforehand.
- Etihad had never even spoken about service with Charlotte airport before President Trump’s trip to the Mideast.
- They called the airport the day before Trump arrived in the U.A.E. They announced service the day after Trump’s visit.
- Etihad also committed to 28 Boeing widebody aircraft with GE engines.
What’s interesting to me is that they’re growing service to the U.S. because of the Trump administration. The first time he was President the controversy was over whether they had too much service. Delta, United and American were arguing that Etihad, Emirates, and Qatar were subsidized by their governments and shouldn’t be allowed access to the U.S. market. (The U.S. airlines didn’t want competition – they wanted consumers to have fewer choices and face higher fares.)
As part of this Delta-led campaign, American ceased codesharing with Qatar and Etihad. Etihad, which was scaling back its ambitions anyway, dropped Los Angeles, San Francisco and Dallas service.
Etihad Business Class
While the U.S. airline campaign had gone nowhere under the Obama administration, the big carriers expressed hope that a Trump administration would be more protectionist (ironic, now that Trump’s protectionism is coming back to bite them). They prosecuted a highly disingenuous and misleading campaign that culminated in an Oval Office meeting set up by Peter Navarro that Delta no-showed.
In Bastian’s absence Trump ‘scolded’ Delta for buying Airbus planes while the Gulf carriers were big customers of Boeing. Trump chastised then-American Airlines CEO Doug Parker over his company’s lagging share price. Ultimately Trump told the U.S. airlines that they have to file a complaint with the Department of Transportation, something they’ve never done because they don’t have a substantive claim under U.S. law.
Abu Dhabi International Airport
I generally try to avoid the Charlotte airport. I find it unpleasant, from the low ceilings to the packed terminals, it simply wasn’t built for the volume that American Airlines pushes through it and they’ve worked to keep costs as low as possible to satisfy American’s finance organization.
Charlotte Airport B Concourse
The flight is an interesting win for Charlotte, that seems commercially odd. While they have a mileage earning and redemption partnership with American (though there are heavy restrictions now using AAdvantage miles for Etihad premium cabins) there’s no status-earning or codesharing. And while Charlotte chould be a better connecting point from the Southeast for them than New York JFK it may not matter that much for ultra-long haul … and many of the connections will be low yield ‘visiting friends and relatives’ business beyond Abu Dhabi to India and Pakistan.
New Etihad Charlotte service will be four times a week on a Boeing 787 starting May 4, 2026. Charlotte joins New York JFK, Washington Dulles, Chicago O’Hare, Boston and Atlanta (which commences July 2) as the airline’s U.S. destinations.
The route will likely never happen, or if it does launch, probably will not last. CLT is a mid-sized city, doesn’t generate the traffic to support the route, or much of the long haul traffic that CLT features. What makes it all work is the AA hub there. Etihad and AA do have some commercial ties, but not anywhere near as comprehensive as with QR.
I’m surprised Qatar hasn’t launched a flight there yet. Maybe they do to compete with etihad.
A lot of people are waking up to the fact that Charlotte is a top 15/20 US city and can support such O&D service…
So will Constellis/Blackwater — affiliated with Erik Prince — be sending a lot of its mercenaries/employees on these flights from Charlotte to Abu Dhabi and then perhaps elsewhere in the Middle East and/or Africa?
The UAE loves American mercenaries, and it even hired some Americans to try to run assassinations for it.
Come on. Does anyone really think that if Trump was going to pressure a Middle East airline to fly a route it would be CLT? PBI yes, CLT no.
No way there is sufficient demand to sustain an ultra long haul destination from CLT four times per week with a 303 seat 787-9 (at least for a profit).
A decade ago, I took an empty 757 T/A flight from Lisbon to CLT that literally had 25 people in coach. That route didn’t last long, either.
Does this have something to do with the planned Abu Dhabi AI investments?
Low ceilings save energy. There is nothing wrong with an airport concourse with low ceilings.
Route announced. UAE and Trump take a victory lap. If the flight happens they’ll tout day and night. If it doesn’t launch it’s someone else’s fault. It’s always someone else’s fault.
@Joe while Charlotte is growing as a city it’s nowhere near being large enough to support O&D traffic to the UAE. There are larger, more affluent markets that yet to have service to the GCC. Without AA’s feed the flight doesn’t work.
@lavanderialarry – Charlotte is now the 14th largest city in the US and continues to be one of the fastest growing ones. We are actually over twice as big as Atlanta (city limits only of course) and our metro area is growing faster than almost any other city on the East Coast with the possible of exception of Raleigh so you can see NC is picking up lots of residents. In addition businesses continue to relocate or expand in the area.
I understand that most of the CLT traffic is connecting but I can see AA codesharing on the flight (only AA hub with Eitihad service outside of ORD which is more UA than AA). Also there are quite a few Indian and middle eastern residents in CLT plus it is a major Fintech hub. All in all I think it will work.
More options and competition is usually good for consumers. Whether this actually happens is another story. So much ‘talk’ of ‘deals,’ but reality is often quite different. I don’t frequent CLT, but good for them, if it does. Since AUH has pre-clearance, Etihad could technically fly to many more US cities and airports, if they want to. This is definitely not making them much money on the actual routes, but could be seem as an appeasement to our king. Bah!
If I were connecting to an Ethiad flight CLT would be the LAST airport I’d choose to connect in. Those 1990s drop ceiling lounges are abysmal . No Thx.
Doesn’t matter, fairly certain this flight won’t see the light of day … or if it does it’ll last 3 months tops.