Manchester: Etihad Airways Flight Status, Hub News & Discussion

[User001]

It's due to the usual heavy period of maintence on the A330 fleet. Same happened last year when we saw a lot of the A340-600.

 

[ethanegcc]

'Removing the eight first class suites and shifting business class further forward instead makes room for a staggering 76 more passengers in economy class, which comes in a 3-3-3 layout' says an article which describes the switch from 3 to 2 class on the AUH-BNE route.

28 Business, 271 Economy, meaning that if it is the two class version used, it is in fact an upgrade from the 332 in both economy and business.

Here is the difference:
View attachment 4138

 

[ethanegcc]

Rutamkrd, in addition to my above post, airlineroute says the aircraft will be the two class dreamliner so, even though the 77W isn't operating on EY21/22 this winter, in reality, it is an up gauge in product and capacity from the 332.
http://www.routesonline.com/news/38...es-dreamliner-manchester-flights-in-feb-2017/
We now know however that this is not the motive for the switch but even so.

 

[User001]

Etihad look to be getting rid of CEO James Hogan.

Potentially bad news for MAN, as it's rumoured a big roll back of EU business, and James was one of the main drivers for the investment at Manchester.

The call centre could potentially be at risk, as could things like the Etihad naming rights of Manchester City.

Nothing confirmed yet, however.

 

[Dobbo]

Isn't this more about the failures of Alitalia, Air Berlin and Air Serbia than Etihad's business performing badly?

In any case, I thought Etihad was performing well at MAN, and such things as sponsorship of the stadium etc were decisions taken above the airlines exec?

 

[EGCC_MAN]

The links with Manchester City FC / Etihad Stadium are unlikely to be directly affected as they reflect upon the prestige of the royal family and Sheikh Mansour / ADUG. As Dobbo mentions, the real problem has been poor investment decisions concerning struggling carriers based in Europe. That same strategy sank Swissair and has done no favours for Etihad.

Etihad themselves have already trimmed capacity at MAN from 2 x B77W to 1 x B77W / 1 x A332 per day. They have the means to maintain frequency with the introduction of a smaller type on the morning flight if needed, but this is a long-established route and unlikely to be the source of Etihad's European indigestion.

The degree of risk to the call centre is something which I can't assess.

 

[Dobbo]

At least I'm not completely off point! Agree re the call centre - that's quite a rare facility to locate in the UK these days. So on the face of it that might be at risk at some stage. Sounds like they have bigger fish to fry in the meantime.

I'm pretty sure MAN is one of EY's biggest European routes, so I'm confident about its future.

 

[Land23R]

In case it's of interest, I can give some Etihad figures for the last 14 months based on CAA stats. The first is the percentage change from the same month in the previous year and the second is the average load.

Not knowing the mix of B773 and A332, I have not attempted LFs.

Sep'15 +4% / 327
Oct'15 +7% / 302
Nov'15 +10% / 272
Dec'15 +16% / 310
Jan'16 +8% / 304
Feb'16 +7% / 317
Mar'16 +11% / 349
Apr'16 +16% / 314
May'16 +1% / 226
Jun'16 +13% / 245
Jul'16 +2% / 357
Aug'16 -3% / 360
Sep'16 -8% / 302
Oct'16 -13% / 261

In terms of pax numbers, the strongest months were March'16 with 43,305; July'16 had 44,253 and Aug'16 had 44,633.
The lowest were May'16 with 28,040 (quite normal for the ME3 I think) and June'16 with 29,411.

I'll leave others to ponder whether the reductions from August simply reflect more A332s or whether the reason for the A332 is because Etihad were seeing less demand for the afternoon flight and trimmed capacity accordingly.

 

[Dobbo]

EY21/22 B787-9 during Feb.

Sounds like this starts on 23 January.

 

[Seasider]

Sounds like this starts on 23 January.

Is Feb 28 the last day of operations?

 

[Dobbo]

Is Feb 28 the last day of operations?

Hi Seasider - I'm afraid I don't know. Ethan might be able to help if he spots this?

 

[ethanegcc]

Is Feb 28 the last day of operations?

Hi Seasider - thanks Dobbo for recommending me! 😉

Yes, unfortunately, Feb 28th is the last day of Etihad 787-9 operations. I wish it would operate regularly.
It is on the afternoon arrival, usually about 1400-1430 and departs 1925.

 

[Seasider]

Thank you very much for the information.

 

[ethanegcc]

A Boeing 777-300ER A6-ETA operated instead of the Boeing 787-9 today and is also scheduled for tomorrow as a 777-300ER rather than an A330-200, according to flight radar.

If we could get up to two daily 77W year-round that would be superb.

 

[Dobbo]

There is no reason why this shouldn't happen (double daily B77W). However, I wonder if they will go down the QR route and aim for triple daily on a smaller aircraft?

There passenger numbers are down somewhat, but I don't know if that is a product of their trying to bump up yield by limiting supply.

 

[ethanegcc]

They are double daily 77W in summer, I think. Perhaps triple daily Etihad 789 would work better for MAN in the future but I don't think it is viable at present. Even a 77W and a 333 would be better than a 332 at the moment.

 

[ethanegcc]

Etihad using the A340-600 on EY21/22, 21st-31st May, as follows:
EY 21 AUH 1045 MAN 1530 346 D
EY 22 MAN 2030 AUH 0645 +1 346 D

 

[ethanegcc]

Unfortunately, First Class is unbookable, I suspect seats will be sold as Business.
View attachment 4615

 

[Dobbo]

From an impeccable source on pprune:

"Etihad to upgrade EY21/22 from A330 to B77W from April for the summer period, except the following dates:

May 21-31st: A340-600 used
All of June: A330-200 used."

I think all of the MEB3 are adding capacity this summer. It is good to see the wheels of growth continue to turn in a difficult market.

 

[ethanegcc]

Yes, June is low season for the ME3 so it is understandable. Great news!