London // Etihad Airways’ chief executive says the company bought its stake in Aer Lingus based on a strategy of increasing the number of flights between Dublin and Abu Dhabi.
James Hogan told aviation industry executives at an event in London on Thursday that the original plan was for a “large investment”, but once it became clear that the management of the Irish carrier did not share Etihad’s vision, the company moved on to focus on deals with airberlin and Alitalia.
“The landscape has changed,” he said. “It is a great airline, profitable and functional. The vision could have been for a large investment.”
Mr Hogan was on Thursday reported by media as indicating that the Abu Dhabi airline could sell its stake if the Irish government backs a €1.35 billion (Dh5.41bn) offer made for its flag carrier by the British Airways parent International Airlines Group. Qatar Airways owns a 10 per cent stake in IAG.
Between 2012 and last year, Etihad accumulated more than 4 per cent of the Dublin-based carrier. The two airlines operate code shares on routes between Dublin and Abu Dhabi, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Kuala Lumpur, Muscat and Bahrain.
Aer Lingus last year increased flights to San Francisco from Dublin and to Boston and New York from Shannon as part of its trans-Atlantic expansion plans announced the year before.
Mr Hogan said that the tie-up become less strategically important to Etihad once the Aer Lingus management, led by the previous chief executive Christopher Mueller, had decided to focus on increasing capacity on trans-Atlantic routes.
Etihad operates 10 flights a week from its base in Abu Dhabi to Dublin and has increased capacity by deploying larger aircraft on the route.
Etihad’s growth strategy is focused on expanding its global route network by code-share partnerships and forming equity alliances, in which it invests in carriers in strategically important regions.
Its equity alliance partners include airberlin, Alitalia, Virgin Australia, India’s Jet and Air Seychelles.
malrawi@thenational.ae
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Navdeep Suri, India's Ambassador to the UAE
There has been a longstanding need from the Indian community to have a religious premises where they can practise their beliefs. Currently there is a very, very small temple in Bur Dubai and the community has outgrown this. So this will be a major temple and open to all denominations and a place should reflect India’s diversity.
It fits so well into the UAE’s own commitment to tolerance and pluralism and coming in the year of tolerance gives it that extra dimension.
What we will see on April 20 is the foundation ceremony and we expect a pretty broad cross section of the Indian community to be present, both from the UAE and abroad. The Hindu group that is building the temple will have their holiest leader attending – and we expect very senior representation from the leadership of the UAE.
When the designs were taken to the leadership, there were two clear options. There was a New Jersey model with a rectangular structure with the temple recessed inside so it was not too visible from the outside and another was the Neasden temple in London with the spires in its classical shape. And they said: look we said we wanted a temple so it should look like a temple. So this should be a classical style temple in all its glory.
It is beautifully located - 30 minutes outside of Abu Dhabi and barely 45 minutes to Dubai so it serves the needs of both communities.
This is going to be the big temple where I expect people to come from across the country at major festivals and occasions.
It is hugely important – it will take a couple of years to complete given the scale. It is going to be remarkable and will contribute something not just to the landscape in terms of visual architecture but also to the ethos. Here will be a real representation of UAE’s pluralism.
