Strategic Aviation
Established Member
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2017
- Posts
- 1,385
The airline has operated 2x daily flights to New York for several years. They used to operate one daily A380 and one daily 777, but as of last October they’ve offered twice daily A380 flights. Just a year after that capacity increase, they’re cutting the second frequency altogether (which shows just how much they’re lacking strategy, given that it’s not like demand changed overnight).
The decision to cancel one of the daily A380 flights was clearly strictly a business decision, and has nothing to do with the recent settlement between the US and UAE regarding the Open Skies agreement, which essentially means “business as usual” for the Gulf carriers. However, I’d bet good money that the US airline lobbying groups will be along shortly to take credit for this route cut from Etihad. “See how effective our campaign was? We’ve convinced the Gulf carriers to pull out of the US, thereby protecting American jobs!”
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