Etihad Airways is literally on a high these days. The airline, according its vice president, Vijay Poonoosamy, has put in place a successful business model based on a very specific mandate from the United Arab Emirates government—Be safe, be viable, be the best in your class.

Etihad’s Vijay Poonoosamy, vice President International & Public Affairs in his remarks at the Association of European Airlines’ Aviation Leadership Summit held last Thursday, November 28, 2013, in Brussels, cited figures to back up his claim that business is indeed booming for the UAE flag carrier.

As reported by eTN yesterday, Etihad Airways since 2011 has acquired 29% of Germany’s airberlin, 40% of Air Seychelles, 19.9% of Virgin Australia and 3% of Aer Lingus. In November, 2013, Etihad Airways received regulatory approval to acquire 24% of India’s Jet Airways, and announced its intention to buy 33.3% of the Swiss-based regional carrier Darwin Airline. In January, 2014, Etihad Airways will activate a 49% investment in Air Serbia. The first profit for Etihad Airways came in 2011. Net profit was US$14 million, 8.4 million passengers were carried and over 310,000 tons of freight were moved. In 2012, the net profit increased by 200% to US$42 million, with 10.3 million passengers carried – up 23% – and almost 368,000 tons of cargo, a rise of 19%.

By the aforementioned figures, it is easy to ascertain that Etihad Airways is on “par” with its own business model, thus setting itself to be in a league of its own. To describe Etihad Airways’ success in a sentence with the word “par” is saying the least. But, the word broken down as an acronym, P for Profitability, A for Accountability, and R for Resilience, aptly sums up the achievements of the flag carrier for the UAE.

Profitability
“Our natural market is much broader than our home city of Abu Dhabi, for within three hours flying time of Abu Dhabi are the booming or evolving markets of the wider Middle East, North Africa, Levant, the Indian sub-continent and the resource-rich states of Central Asia,” said the Etihad VP.

“That is a potential passenger market of more than three billion people which geography and technology allow us to tap whilst focussing on multiple markets—business, leisure, religious, labor, migration, education, governments, international organizations.”

According to Poonoosamy, Abu Dhabi is a natural junction for passengers and freight moving to and from these destinations, and between these regions and others as far afield as the Americas, Europe, Africa, China, Southeast Asia and Australasia. “In many cases, these markets are either not connected, or not connected easily to short-haul services to secondary cities like Cochin or Calicut which cannot attract viable long-haul services.”

Accountability
“Yes, we operate in a tax-free country, but so do all other local and foreigncompanies. Moreover, what we do not pay in taxes in more than compensated by what we have to pay to the large number of expatriates we employ—housing, education, health insurance, repatriation costs.”

Resilience
Poonoosamy said: “We are different from and compete fiercely with neighboring airlines. We believe in competition. European airlines are not only entitled, but encouraged to fly to Abu Dhabi. We believe that customers deserve to fly an airline by choice not by default and we have developed a signature service excellence for our guests which I know others would love to have the flexibility to offer too.”

Clearly, the Etihad Airways VP understands his customers as well as his competition. In particular, European carriers. When Poonoosamy says he understands European aviation, he really means mastery of the subject. His insights on European aviation during his panel are relevant, warranting an entire article devoted on his expertise on the subject. Look for it in your inbox in the near future.