Etihad ! EY ! ETD !

Etihad Airways confirmed on Wednesday it had cancelled an Airbus plane order but stressed this was related to an accident during ground testing in 2007 and not driven by any change of commercial strategy.
Airbus data released on Wednesday showed that the Abu Dhabi carrier had cancelled one of its eight outstanding orders for long-distance A340-600 jets worth USD$250 million each at list prices.
An Etihad spokesman said the cancelled order related to an aircraft which rammed into a concrete wall during engine testing at the planemaker's Toulouse headquarters in November 2007, injuring 9 people including 4 seriously.

"Etihad has not deferred or cancelled any of its aircraft orders" other than the damaged A340, the spokesman said.
(Reuters)

The new product on board the airline’s latest Airbus A340-600 is now operating between Abu Dhabi and London
Heathrow.

The state-of-the-art private suite provides first class customers with an extra-large leather seat, upholstered by world-renowned leather company Poltrona Frau, which extends to a fully-flat bed, 80.5 inches in length.

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Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways announced a major $750 million investment package as the carrier celebrates its sixth anniversary.
The major investment covers the areas of workforce, fleet, in-flight service, as well as its planning and resourcing systems.
While the specifics of the investments were not detailed, Etihad chief executive James Hogan announced a seven-point improvement plan across the whole of the airline as the show progresses.

First, Etihad has signed a contract with Panasonic to feature the eX2 in-flight entertainment system on the airline's new Airbus A330-300 and Boeing 777 widebodies scheduled for delivery from December 2009 and 2011, respectively.

Second, the airline signed a $200 million contract with International Aero Engines to provide overhaul and repair service for 14 Airbus narrowbodies now in Etihad's fleet.

Third, Lufthansa Technik was selected to install new first-class suites on nine of Etihad's A340s. The airline is expected to announce today that its first-class cabins will feature B/E Aerospace first-class suites.

Fourth, Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies will upgrade the airline's 777 and Airbus A320 fleets, which will involve replacing and reconfiguring economy-class seating. Etihad's 777s will feature 10-abreast seating, up previously from nine abreast. Etihad is expected to announce today that it has selected the Thales' i5000 IFE system on its existing 777 and A320 fleets.

Fifth, Etihad will invest $250 million with SR Technics to provide easy access to more than 300 aircraft components at the airline's Abu Dhabi hub and key outstations.

Sixth, Lufthansa Systems will introduce a new flight-planning system, enabling the airline to reduce its fuel costs by up to 5%, cutting emissions and benefiting from a more efficient flight planning process.

Finally, Kronos will automate and optimise planning and management processes for Etihad's 4,000 cabin and flight crew.

Etihad Airways was awarded the Airbus Top Operational Excellence Award for its fleet of A340-500/600 aircraft at the Airbus Technical Symposium in Berlin last week.

Etihad’s A340 fleet was awarded after the airline was found to outperform other airline fleets based on a number of criteria for operational excellence over a two-year period.

The criteria for the award includes revenue flight hours, revenue take-offs, changeable operations and average operational delay time over the period from November 2007 to October 2009.

Etihad Airways Executive Vice President - Technical, Werner Rothenbaecher said:
“We are very proud and honoured to receive this award for Top Operational Excellence of our Airbus A340 fleet.

This award is the result of hard work of our technical team and a very strong joint operation between Etihad Airways and our partners at Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies (ADAT) which continues to ensure Etihad’s fleet is at the highest standard of safety, reliability and operability.”

John Grother, Airbus’ Vice President A330/A340 Family Programme commented, “Etihad has forged a strong working relationship with Airbus and has shown a remarkable determination and commitment to ensure that the fleet is maintained at a level to support the airline’s goals of service perfection.

Etihad Technical is indeed a worthy winner of this award, and can justifiably be proud of its contribution in making Etihad the World’s Leading Airline.”

Etihad Airways has 11 Airbus A340-500/600 aircraft, as part of a fleet of 52 Boeing and Airbus aircraft.
In 2008, Etihad placed the largest aircraft order in aviation history at the Farnborough Airshow with 100
firm aircraft orders due for delivery by 2020.

E_Dall a écrit:Médaille en chocolat, comme dit Sevrien...

Mais c'est bien, c'est bien.

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates and Airbus have celebrated the carriers
status as the launch customer for the world’s newest freighter aircraft, the wide-body A330-200F, at a ceremony at the Farnborough International Airshow.

Following the Paris Le Bourget 2007 order the aircraft will enter service with Etihad’s cargo business, Etihad Crystal Cargo in September this year.

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A few years ago Christopher Nolan, whose current film Inception is turning into one of this summer’s blockbusters, directed a thriller about two rival magicians. Set in London at the beginning of the 20th century, The Prestige tells the story of how two magicians obsessed with creating the very best stage illusion engage in fiercely competitive one-upmanship. It all ends tragically.

In the corporate sector, Boeing and Airbus have been engaged in a ferocious game of one-upmanship for leadership in the global commercial aircraft market. Airbus came from nowhere, challenged its US rival, and ultimately overtook it. Boeing’s head of commercial aircraft, Jim Albaugh, now says he is “very confident about how we are positioned to regain – and retain – leadership in this business”.

Mr. Albaugh on Monday pulled a plump rabbit out of his hat on the opening day of the Farnborough Air Show. He announced that Boeing had won an impressive order for 30 of its 777 widebody airliners from Emirates, the Dubai-based carrier that is already the 777’s single largest customer.

• en bradant les prix, et en ayant recours à des astuces commerciales (par exemple, sans accusation ni procès d'intention aucune : possibilité d'octroyer aux clients des indemnités pour couvrir le coût excédentaire du kérosène, dans l'exploitation de ces Boeing avec ses moteurs d'une génération vieillissante ...., par rapport à la facture du carburant relative aux A350-XWB correspondants... ; réduction du prix facturé de l'entretien etc. ; "buy-back" à un bon prix d'occasion, au moment où le nouveau "Superbi-" (NG) de Boeing arriverait sur le marché, comme remplacement des B777-300ER....., avec des prix de lancement agréablement réduits pour une liste longue de clients de lancement ..... ; et qu'Emirates semble adorer ce genre de chose, en sa faveur..... , et serait très flatté d'avoir un 'grand Boeing fait sur mesure pour lui) ;
  

Boeing’s European arch-rival Airbus pulled a similar rabbit out of its hat a month ago by announcing at the Berlin Air Show it had won an order for 32 of its A380 super jumbos from Emirates. Once again, the Dubai airline also happens to be the single largest customer for the A380.

All this of course is great news for the industry. It suggests, as both Boeing and Airbus have been saying at Farnborough, that the civil aircraft market is recovering and that airlines and indeed aircraft leasing companies are again placing orders.

Although the world economy is not yet out of the woods, especially in the case of Europe and the US, there are pockets of growth in Asia and the Middle East.

The problem is that these recent new blockbuster widebody aircraft orders from Emirates may not be all that they seem to be. For there is a widespread suspicion in the market that they are not so much brand new orders but a repackaging of earlier orders placed by DAE Capital, the leasing arm of the Dubai government backed aviation financing and engineering group Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE).

Back in the salad days of 2006 and 2007, DAE Capital ordered nearly $29bn worth of aircraft roughly evenly split between Boeing and Airbus as part of its ambitious efforts to become a big player on the aircraft leasing market.

Then the global economic crisis came along, the Dubai property bubble burst and the emirate found itself with a mountain of debt. That by no means put an end to the country’s aviation ambitions, but it nonetheless forced it to focus on its priorities – continuing to develop Emirates into a leading global carrier and building the new Al-Maktoum international airport.

A senior Dubai government official recently confirmed that DAE was renegotiating its order for more than 200 Boeing and Airbus aircraft. The trouble was that the bulk of these orders appear to have been for narrowbody aircraft such as the Airbus A320 and the Boeing 737 and these are of little or no interest to Emirates.

So what appears to have happened is a classic sleight of hand where what seems to disappear into thin air on one side reappears – hey presto – on the other. Except this time the magicians also seem to have transformed narrowbody aircraft into plumb widebodies.

And what, God forbid, should happen were such a valued customer as the Dubai flag-carrier itself disappear into thin air? No doubt the two great magicians of the civil aircraft industry would have to dig deep into their bag of tricks.