Tag Archives for etihad.
James Hogan has been spotted in Podgorica, consulting with Montenegro’s Minister of Finance on the formation of a new national airline. Montenegro Airlines liquidated last month, the victim of losses, mismanagement, and a scandal involving free travel for government officials. The country promised it would be replaced by new carrier 2 Montenegro.
Etihad owns a 49% stake in Air Serbia, and the Serbian government owns the other 51%. This was one of the better airline investments previous Etihad management made in its effort to acquire stakes in airlines and redirect their traffic through its hub in Abu Dhabi. But it’s now falling apart.
Etihad has terminated flights from its Abu Dhabi hub to Belgrade, and will reportedly end its codesharing with the carrier it half owns next year.
Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways will start direct flights from the United Arab Emirates to Tel Aviv on March 31, 2021. It has entered into a new agreement with Israel’s El Al for codesharing and a frequent flyer partnership.
This is monumental. Not only will this Arab state airline fly non-stop to Israel, it will all Israel’s flag carrier to put its own code on Etihad flights. That means, effectively, that certain Etihad flights – which all begin with a prayer from the Quran – will also be El Al flights.
Etihad isn’t just dropping chefs from first class, flight attendants with restaurant experience and who are more expensive for the airline.
They’re also eliminating their Flying Nannies program in partnership with Norland College. And, with Etihad’s Airbus A380s grounded, the ‘butlers’ who serve the A380 Residence (and act as flight attendants on flights without passengers traveling in the Residence) are having their duties re-assigned.
Etihad will eliminate first class chefs and business class food and beverage managers. It’s expected that the former may be laid off “by the end of October” while the latter face elimination “by the end of this year.”
Etihad’s first class chefs are flight attendants with restaurant cooking experience. Food and beverage managers are specially trained.
On May 18 Etihad operated its first ever flight to Israel, flying an Airbus A330 full of cargo from Abu Dhabi to Tel Avvi carrying supplies including ventilators bound for the Palestinian territory. However the Palestinian authority rejected the shipment because the U.A.E. coordinated the shipment with Israel, rather than directly with them.
This week Etihad tried again. The first flight was operated by an Airbus A330 painted white. This time it was a Boeing 787-9 in Etihad colors, there was nothing hidden about the shipment.
A year ago Aeroplan accidentally announced a partnership with Etihad Airways. That deal wasn’t ready for prime time, but now it’s live. You can earn and redeem Aeroplan miles for travel on Etihad, which is huge in my opinion – especially with no fuel surcharges.
You can combine Etihad flights with Star Alliance airlines in a single award and travel to India, the Mideast, the Maldives and more.
On Sunday Emirates announced a suspension of all passenger flights on Tuesday, March 25. Then later in the day they walked that back announcing that they would continue to fly to 13 countries.
However they will not, in fact, do that because by the end of the day the government of the United Arab Emirates ordered a suspension of passenger flights starting Wednesday.
When American Airlines announced their renewed partnership with Qatar Airways – re-introducing codesharing, which they terminated in 2017, and potentially flying to Doha – I speculated that this might mean an end to American’s partnership with Etihad.
American only just introduced online redemption of Etihad awards in May and it was a surprise to see at the time, since American has been in a political war with those two airlines, despite their partnerships, for the past four and a half years – and even terminated codeshares with both. I’m glad to see American continuing to invest in getting online redemption for Etihad and Qatar right.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
