Etihad Airways eyes narrow body aircraft

(MENAFN - Khaleej Times) DUBAI — Etihad Airways is reviewing single aisle, narrow-body aircraft to be used on short-haul flights from its Abu Dhabi base.

Aircraft being examined are the Airbus A320 and the Boeing 737 which are widely used by airlines across the world for short-haul flights of up to three hours.

More than 50 per cent of Etihad's international flight network, which includes destinations in the Levant, Middle East, North Africa and the Asian subcontinent, could be served by short-haul aircraft.

James Hogan, Etihad Airways' chief executive, said: "The expansion to narrow-body aircraft will be beneficial on our regional network because they will enable us to offer greater frequencies and improved timings. It will also enable Etihad to devote our wide body aircraft fleet to our long-haul services to Asia, Europe, North America and South Africa."

Currently all of Etihad's 25 aircraft, which includes 11 Airbus A330-200s, five Boeing 777-300s and four Airbus A340-500s, are wide-body.

By acquiring narrow-body aircraft Etihad will also be able to launch new services to smaller regional destinations, significantly building on the airline's 48 flights per week to GCC countries.

http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.a ... 1093150254

This is pretty smart of them, as their neighbor EK has only longhaul aircraft in their fleet. This will allow EY to use AUH as a hub to serve on a cost-effective and frequent basis some smaller regional destinations that aren't big enough to support widebody service. I am guessing from Hogan's background and the current composition of the EY fleet that this order is A320's to lose only if Boeing makes a really attractive bid, but then they could also possibly go for E-jets on many of these sectors.