"Tie-up with Jet a win-win deal"
Why have you tied up with Jet Airways?
We wanted to tie up with the best airline in India, but beyond that, we both wanted to offer our passengers a choice of onward connections. Jet Airways passengers to Abu Dhabi can now fly beyond on code-shared flights with Etihad and passengers on both airlines can earn frequent flyer miles on each other.
What about your own expansion plans?
We currently fly into four Indian cities, and in August, we will start flights to Kochi and Kozhikode. Next year, we will add Kolkata and Jaipur to our map. We also want to start services to Bangalore and Hyderabad, but we will not expand indiscriminately.
Etihad has grown from nothing to a fairly large international carrier, but people argue that Gulf-based carriers get state benefits. Your comments...
The government of Abu Dhabi is promoting us because it sees Etihad as an integral part of making Abu Dhabi a ‘destination’. In 2009, the city will have an F1 Grand Prix; there are theme parks and famous museums such as the Guggenheim also coming up. But it is not a charity. We pay market prices for fuel, and our tax breaks are not unique. And we hope to break even by 2010.
