Etihad Airways, Group CEO, Antonoaldo Neves at the CAPA World Aviation Summit 2023

Transcript

Antonoaldo Neves:So we are back to growth. We have devised a plan together with our board, our shareholders, and the plan is at the same time conservative and aggressive, right? So what we have in the plan is an aspiration to double the size of the fleet over the next 7 years, and we believe by doing that and increasing aircraft utilization, we're going to be able to triple the number of passengers that we transport. So this year we're doing 13 million, last year we did 10 million, next year we're going to do 17 million. So we're very excited about this plan, but we want to have a plan that has flexibility and optionality. So the plan is a plan that if I have to grow a little bit less, I can grow a little bit less. If I have to grow a little bit more, I can grow a little bit more. How is the impact on the industry? I mean, so far so good. I mean, we— of course it's impacting, But we're very agile. So every opportunity that we see in the market to source a new aircraft and it makes sense, we capture that opportunity, right? So this year we have added 16 planes back to the fleet. We reintroduced 4 A380s to the fleet. So every single week I sit on the fleet committee to decide what I'm going to do next week and the following week in respect to fleet. And the execution capability of our team is amazing. So Even though it's a challenge, right, we're trying to overcome it. I don't try to see that long, 10 years, 15 years, because we have orders and new planes are going to come over the next 7 to 10 years, right? So the focus for the A380 right now is the next 4 years. We have identified London as a market that we can deploy those assets, and we're very happy about that. So it's— we take every day and we analyze every day what is ahead of us in the next 18 months. Of course, we have a long-term fleet plan. No airline can survive without a long-term fleet plan. But instead of locking in the future, I prefer to have optionality for the future. We also sell an aspirational product, right? So people aspire to get an upgrade to business class. People aspire actually to buy even more space in economy, right? People aspire to get an upgrade to first class. So we believe that there are a lot of customers and that aspire to buy an upgrade for the residence. So we kept it simple. Instead of selling the residence as a product, independent product, we believe it's much better to sell it as an upgrade, and it's working very well for us. My question to my team today is, guys, what is the product for the customer that's going to come, right? And we don't have an answer for that right now, right? The product we have is the product we have. We have the new A350s, that have an amazing interior and it's very well done. We have the new 787-8 version that we just presented in the Dubai Airshow. So we believe what we have today is speaking, is actually very good for what our customer want today. There are some areas where we can improve, like Wi-Fi connectivity, and we're working on that. But I still don't have an answer for you in terms of the customer of the future, right? I'm very much devoted for the present today. So we're taking a very pragmatic approach and thinking about what we have to do today and tomorrow and over the next 3 years, because the aspiration that we set is very high, right? It's to double the size of the airline in the next 7 years. It's a big aspiration. So I want the organization very much focused in delivering great customer experience today and at the same time being profitable. Aircraft availability is the biggest challenge that we have today. We're lucky. Because our engines, I mean, we're not in the engine space where we have challenges right now. Our engine challenges are moderate, are not that big in terms of engine availability, right? Of course, they're all safe, safe to fly. We're doing very well in terms of our flying standards. But the industry is facing this challenge in engines, which compounds to the lack of aircraft availability, right? So I would say it's very clear to everyone in the industry that the biggest challenge we have today is how can I plan the future and how can I execute the future and how can I sell a flight in May next year if I'm not sure if the flights, the planes are going to arrive? Thank you.

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