December 29, 2017
Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Air-ways will scrap flights to Tehran on January 24, the latest route to be dropped as the Abu Dhabi airline pursues a strategy review.
The airline is managed independently of the government to make a profit, so the decision is not likely to be political but may reflect reduced business as a result of the sour relations between the UAE and Iran.
The airline launched the review in 2016 that has also seen it sell or step away from investments in foreign carriers. Etihad’s five weekly flights to Iran’s capital will be reduced to two a week between Dec. 25 and Jan. 23, before it suspends the route entirely on Jan. 24, an airline spokeswoman said.
She declined to say why the route was being suspended.
Since launching the strategy review, Etihad has said it would cut flights to San Francisco and Dallas-Fort Worth in the United States.
Briton Tony Douglas will join Etihad next month as its new group chief executive, as the airline rethinks its rapid expansion strategy. Douglas, who comes from Britain’s Ministry of Defense, previously served as chief executive of Abu Dhabi’s airport company.
Etihad has made few details public about its strategy review, which, since being launched, has seen the departure of James Hogan, its group chief executive, who led the airline for a decade.