Etihad Airways Eighth Anniversary

This is not meant to be a chronological history of the airline, but my impressions as someone who was involved with the starting of the airline.

Etihad Airways flew on 5 November 2003 from Abu Dhabi to Al Ain and then on 12 November flew its frst commercial flight to Beirut. At the time the airline had Beirut, Damascus and Amman as destinations. Etihad Airways has expanded at a relatively faster rate than its competitors Emirates Airlines and Qatar Airways. The airline started with 2 Airbus A330s leased from TAM and an A340 leased from Boeing to a fleet of 63 aircraft (100 on order) serving 63 destinations in 43 countries and a cargo operation serving 14 destinations.

Very few people know how Etihad Airways started. The Amiri decree forming Etihad Airways was issued in July 2003, also appointing HE Dr. Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saif Al Nahyan as the first Chairman of the airline. He also was the Chairman of GAMCO now ADAT.

GAMCO's commercial, legal, contracts and finance resources were mobilized to set up the initial business plan and proceed with the AOC. Two aircraft were leased from TAM and then one A340 ex Singapore Airlines from Boeing. An MRO team of engineers and technical personnel had to become the start up team for the airline. A building slated to be the training center became the head office of the airline and the team handled functions like recruitment, purchasing of catering and commercial  equipment. At the time Air Arabia was starting and GAMCO was called upon to provide full maintenance and engineering support for it and Etihad which was not a problem for an MRO. One challenge was to set up airline functions like scheduling and maintenance control from scratch. GAMCO had extensive experience performing these functions for Gulf Air using GF's facilities, eventually that function was tuned over to the airline.

The airline was set up between July and November 2003 with aircraft leased and delivered and all commercial and cabin equipment provided. One challenge was the IFE system which was from Rockwell Collins a system that was not very popular in the region. Collins was called on to provide support and ensure a greater than 95% dispatch reliability of the system. A task that they performed efficiently.

Another challenge, that I was personally involved with, was providing logistics support for the A330s and the A340 at short notice. A support package was prepared and acquired from AJ Walter Aviation. The agreement was made during the 2003 Dubai Air Show.

Etihad Airways is an airline that a lot of us are proud to have been associated with it and believed in the vision that now is a world class airline spanning the globe.

Finally, everyone is dazzled with the performance of the airline that they all forget that it all began in an MRO by a bunch of engineers and technical people.

Dubai Airshow 2011 #dxb11

Twitter traffic bearing #dxb11 is on the increase as we near the opening of Dubai Airshow 2011.
Dubai Airshow usually brings cheer to an otherwise depressed industry with mega orders form the GCC airlines. Expectations are high, certainly because we have been told by Emirates and Qatar Airways to expect "bombshell" orders. What they did not tell us was what are the orders.

I don't usually like to speculate, but #dxb11 is tomorrow and it is a festive occasion  so why not.
Starting with the easy ones
- ALAFCO the leasing company from Kuwait announced they will order 50 A320 NEOs.

- Qatar Airways hinted strongly about additional A380s and A320 NEOs. Now, probably a
  Bombardier C series order (as a pay off for getting Canada traffic rights at the time the airlines of
  the Gulf were the bad guys) maybe forthcoming, someone has to cheer up Bombardier.

- Emirates will probably order some A380s (two dozen or so) and probably B777s. What will be cool
  is, if they have managed to push Boeing to offer the upgraded B777 bringing the aircraft performance on
  par with the A350.

Enough, so patience please, will find out in the coming few days, for sure

Dubai Air Show #dxb09

First of all I am writing this blog from my Blackberry, a first for me, so if it looks awful blame it on technology.

It is the last day of the Dubai Air Show #dxb09. It has been a hectic week for all of us. It has been a show that had been different than previous ones, it still had aviation professionals hurriedly going from one stand or chalet to another, looking for, following up or concluding business.

The first noticeable thing is the lack of mega commercial aircraft orders, so what, it is a recession and I see no reason why the region should bail out the industry again. A refreshing thing actually happened, we got to hear about all the equipment and services contracts that used to be drowned by mega aircraft orders, a reminder that the industry is more than a few aircraft manufacturers.


The other thing is the use of social media to cover the event, a thrilling experience which I am priviliged to have taken a tiny tiny minute part in along with giants like Flightglobal and @flightblogger, @runwaygirl, @mtargettuk and many others. We had probably the first Tweetup in an International Air Show.

For me, other than business meetings, it was an opportunity to meet friends and coleagues that I have not seen in many years. The real highlight and thrill was the making of new friends, ones that I followed and networked with on Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media. They became real live and fun people to be around.

It reminded me that an Air Show is not all business. It is about fun and enjoying one's friends company around something we all feel passionately about, aircraft and aviation.

#dxb09 has been a fun experience enriched with friends old and new, so, keep well guys and be good.

Dubai Air Show 2009 Tweetup

True to Tweeples or Twitteratis (take your pick) while tweeting on #dxb09 it was spontaneously agreed to have a Tweetup on Monday at 2:30 pm under the Qatar Airways B777. All sponsored by Flightglobal.

Well, we had a Tweetup, well maybe a mini or some would say micro. At the time under the shadow of the QR B777 and during the Flying Displays, we all connected the Flightglobal Team , those who were not tied up blogging.

The roll call included @stefanthepilot @inflightcuisine @sumudu @tangosix @obsalah @runwaygirl @mtargettuk @spetrovic and a few more. It was great to meet the team behind Flightglobal easily the most extensively visited aviation news website.

The highlight was the introduction of @stefanthepilot to all of us, quite a character. Well @stephanthepilot is a pilot action figure (. Honestly, I was surprised, never thought of an action figure, chalk one for the Flightglobal team.

We had a few pics and red T shirts (click here), we chatted, of course over the roar of fighters using their after burners (something only persons in aviation will do, normal people will go indoors).

It was great fun and I enjoyed it, the highlight of the day

Dubai Air Show, the Twitter Experience

This is the first day of the Dubai Air Show and guess what, I was not there. However, I had a different Air Show experience, a social media coverage of the Air Show #dxb09. Sure, it is not the same as being there experiencing the buzz and excitement, but nevertheless this is my first experience of whether social media works in a venue that I am familiar with (my 7th air show).

Keeping an open mind, I followed the events as they unfolded and yes it was still exciting. Best thing is Breaking News, I actually got to hear about events, equipment orders and aircraft developments as they were actually being announced. Even the flying displays were reported by @flightglobal.

Credit has to go to @flightblogger and @RunwayGirl among many others for bringing about this experience.

It certainly was interesting, tomorrow will get to meet all those tweeples responsible for keeping us in the know

Dubai Air Show

Sunday the 15th of November the Dubai Air Show 2009 will officially start. It promises to be the highlight of an otherwise very grim year for aviation for many reasons;

1. The number of exhibitors have increased over those of 2007.

2. It is held in an area that has bucked the trend and is actually shows growth.

3. As always people are intrigued to hear what Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways have to

order.

4. The first show held when Social Media is so popular and the ability to catch up through

Twitter and Facebook, great fun.

For first timers Dubai Air Show is an awesome event, with all these aircraft on static display or the 2 hours of flying displays. It fills me with awe every time I watch, even though some o them are the same routines from previous shows. The exhibition halls that house all these big, famous and not so big and famous that make up aviation, all under one roof, so accessible and so friendly and easy to talk to is an inspiration.

For me personally, it is a time of catching up with friends, yes old friends. The ones I thought I lost track of, somehow we all surface again at air shows. Time to check on families and careers; where they were and where are they heading.

It is a time of feeling proud of being part of an industry that refuses to be beaten or put down by recession, terror or politics. An industry that innovates its way out of trouble and never gives up.

In a region where aviation is at the leading edge of technology and all its innovation and creativity.

In a region that showed the world that "yes we can" through 9/11 and all its persisting conflicts, SARS, Avian Flu, H1N1 and recession.

In the course of the coming week I will blog and share events and feelings, I am so looking forward to it.