Gulf air was de-emphasizing its Abu Dhabi hub an the ruling family there decided to start its own airline. They hired James Hogan to run it. Hogan had been the CEO of Gulf Air. So his airline strategy secured himself a new job.
He built a major Gulf player, but also a loss-maker — while the airline certainly invested in passenger experience, its the carrier’s investments in airlines around the world that drove red ink and ultimately led to his departure.
Etihad bought into troubled carriers around the world. Their investments in Air berlin, Darwin Airlines, Air Serbia, Alitalia, Virgin Australia, and Jet Airways were designed to drive traffic through Etihad’s Abu Dhabi hub. Ostensibly they were going to turn around these carriers, in reality that was never likely in carriers like Alitalia but I do think they thought they foolishly could do better than others tempted to light money on fire who came before.
With oil prices half what they were a few years ago they started to care about these losses, and the strategy’s architect Hogan had to go. Along with him other top leadership was jettisoned as well.
Now the former head of London Heathrow (who previously ran the terminal 5 project which didn’t go quickly or smoothly) who has significant experience in the UAE including running Abu Dhabi airport is the new CEO of Etihad.
Tony Douglas has a real task in front of him. As Etihad works to unwind its money losers and cut costs across the operation, he’ll have to lead (or take orders) figuring out what the future of the airline looks like.
No, he wasn’t the one who “built” T5. The designers, and engineers and laborers built T5. He was just the nominal guy at the top.
@anon that’s not something to be proud of if you have any memory of the project
What? As I recall, the design and construction went to plan, budget and time. Opening week was a disaster, but that hardly renders delivery of a £5bn project insignificant.
With a blank cheque, any moron can build an airline with great experiences! James Hogan’s past experiences are littered with failures.
New guy needs to restore some sort of customer experience post travel. The current system of apologies but nothing more renders the airline hit-or-miss……pray that nothing goes wrong on your flight.
The new terminal (lovely name called “Mid Field” because it is in the middle of a field) is going to be over-the-top.
Their loyalty program is anything but loyal. Becoming so expensive to redeem. And if you need to change or cancel, good luck.
Gary: What was your biggest project management venture in London? That Lego outfit you got free with a happy meal? When you condemn the management of a venture like the development of T5 you better have some pretty detailed, comprehensive, authoritative data on which to base it. Maybe you and ‘anon’ should work out on each other.
@andrew excuse me? T5 project – not the project head’s fault – took decades. and when it completed it was a complete cluster (though they recovered from it of course)
@Gary: “Rory says:
September 28, 2017 at 8:34 am
What? As I recall, the design and construction went to plan, budget and time. Opening week was a disaster, but that hardly renders delivery of a £5bn project insignificant.”
It wasn’t just opening WEEK and it wasn’t only one thing either.
Hundreds of flights cancelled. Baggage disaster. Terminal IT systems meltdown. Staff weren’t properly trained and systems weren’t properly tested. Things did smooth out.
The project took TWENTY YEARS. Is that this man’s fault? Absolutely not. But it is an embarrassment and cautionary tale of modern infrastructure investment. Not unlike some in the United States.
“Hundreds of flights cancelled. Baggage disaster. Terminal IT systems meltdown. Staff weren’t properly trained and systems weren’t properly tested. Things did smooth out.”
Complete ballsup, absolutely. However, a minor issue at best on an assessment of this man’s suitability for the new position. How long has he run Heathrow?
“The project took TWENTY YEARS. Is that this man’s fault?” It did not. There was a concept twenty years (or more) before. BA has always wanted one terminal at Heathrow since before T4 was finished.”
You remind me of the naive Mitt Romney thinking his experience with the winter Olympics in Utah was comparable to creating the Summer Olympics in London (he made a fool of himself as he forecast an organizational disaster in London). There is just a mega-order of difference completing a major civil engineering project in London vs. on the side of a mountain in Utah.
One more time…
“Rory says:
September 28, 2017 at 8:34 am
What? As I recall, the design and construction went to plan, budget and time. …”
@Gary: Bring me some evidence. A “telling anecdote” does not count.