Etihad Airways announced last week that it’s dropping, postponing or shifting some of its airplane orders with both Airbus and Boeing as it reassesses its finances and future.
Long the weakest of the three big Gulf-based airlines, Etihad had pursued a strategy of investing in partner airlines to extend its reach, believing that it could use that investment and its buying power to renew fleets and turn struggling carriers into viable operations. Now, with the failures of Air Berlin, Alitalia and some others, Etihad must take a different turn after two years of $3.5 billion losses, too much even for the Abu-Dhabi state-owned carrier.
Its spectacular %67 billion in 2013 orders for 87 planes from Airbus and 56 from Boeing is now being trimmed. The airline says it will, “over the coming years,” take delivery on five Airbus A350-1000s, 26 A321neos and six Boeing 777-9s, and that it would continue taking its 787s. The airline told Reuters that the “balance of the remaining orders will be defined at a later time through rescheduling, restructuring or reduction.”
