Abu Dhabi based Etihad Airways will expand its scheduled services on a number of key European routes for this coming summer season.
From June 3rd it will increase services to Milan Malpensa from the existing five-time weekly service, to a six times weekly, which from July 30th will then become a daily service. Etihad is currently the only carrier operating the route, and its announcement comes after Bahrain based Gulf Air, announced plans to serve Milan from March 28th on a four-times weekly basis . IATA BSP data shows that Etihad has an 80% share of the existing market between Abu Dhabi and Milan, with leakage primarily via Doha and Frankfurt with Qatar Airways and Lufthansa. Etihad will deploy an A330-200 on the additional weekly flights.
Another route just added by Gulf Air, Geneva, will be increased from a five-times weekly to a daily service from June 18th. This sector is also operated by Sri Lankan Airlines on a thrice-weekly basis, as an extension of its Colombo originating service. Geneva is also served by Qatar on a five-times weekly basis from Doha. IATA BSP data shows that Etihad currently has an 88% share of the existing O+D market of over 39,000 from Abu Dhabi with an average one way fare of 840USD.
July 1st , will see Etihad increase its ten-times weekly service to Paris Charles de Gaulle to a double daily service, operated with a mix of A330-200 an A330-300 equipment. It competes with Air France which operates a five-times weekly schedule. IATA BSP data shows that over 79,000 O+D passengers have flown between the city pairs between October 2009 and 2010 with Etihad having an 80% share of this market. Paris is a route also served by Emirates from Dubai and Qatar Airways from Doha on a double daily basis, whilst Gulf Air operates a daily from Bahrain.
Etihad will also increase service to the Belgian capital of Brussels, effective July 31st, increasing from a six-times weekly to an eight-times weekly, the only carrier serving the route. Brussels is not served by any of its major Middle East competitors, namely Emirates and Qatar.
The Abu Dhabi based carrier will also increase existing daily service to Manchester, to a ten times weekly, a route that is served only by Etihad. However Qatar serves Manchester on a daily basis from Doha and Emirates serves Manchester on a double daily basis from Dubai.
Etihad will be seeking to increase its market share of the Middle East to Europe market, where according to IATA BSP data, it currently has a 3% share of over 20 million O+D passengers that travelled between the two regions between October 2009 and October 2010. Emirates is the market leader with a 14% share, followed by El Al (11%) and Turkish Airlines (9%), with Qatar Airways having a 5% share.
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