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Update 7 Jan 2016: Etihad has updated its schedule once again and brought forward some of the Jet Airways aircraft swaps as well as adding some new ones – details updated below.
Jet Airways is a Mumbai based Indian airline in which Etihad has held a 24% stake since 2013. The airline has been hemorrhaging money for quite a while and, although their accounting figures have improved in the last year, they still posted losses of over $300m in 2015.
Over the past few years Etihad has been leasing some of Jet Airway’s 777-300ER aircraft – in part to patch up their own fleet until new aircraft come on-line and in part to prop up their investment. While this may have been good news for Jet Airways, it hasn’t been such good news for Etihad’s passengers.
A Jet Airways 777-300ER at Abu Dhabi International Airport
Etihad is one of the big 3 Middle Eastern airlines and, as such, is associated with great service and top-end premium cabins….and rightly so. The problem is that the Jet Airways aircraft that they’ve been flying don’t really live up to the Etihad standard and, to be honest, they can be a bit of a let-down if a passenger doesn’t know what to expect.
Here’s what the Business Class seats looked like on a recent Etihad 777-300 flight I took:
Etihad Business Class 777-300ER
Etihad Business Class 777-300ER
And, in contrast, this is what the Business Class cabin looks like on an Etihad operated Jet Airways 777-300ER:
Jet Airways Business Class 777-300ER – Wikicommons Media
Clearly the product isn’t terrible and, if you weren’t expecting Middle Eastern opulence, it probably wouldn’t be disappointing…..but if you’re booking an Etihad flight you would be expecting Middle Eastern opulence.
The contrast between the First Class cabins is a little greater with the Jet Airways suite looking like something that hasn’t been renovated since the late 80’s:
Jet Airways 777-300ER First Class Suite – Wikicommons
While the Etihad First Class suite on their own 777 aircraft is considerably nicer:
To compound the issue, Etihad have been flying these Jet Airways aircraft on, what a lot of people would consider, very premium routes (Abu Dhabi – New York and Abu Dhabi – San Francisco for example).
This is something which I’ve always failed to understand. Why would Etihad put anything other than their best cabins on a route like Abu Dhabi – New York? There has to be a “proper” Etihad 777, currently flying a less premium route, that they could use.
Anyway, all of this is now a moot point. In the latest Etihad schedule update (courtesy of airlineroute.net) it would seem that Etihad is starting to replace the Jet Airways 777-300 aircraft with its own aircraft.
The notable changes are as follows:
Abu Dhabi – Delhi
EY224/223 Jet Airways 777-300ER to be replaced by an Etihad 777-300ER (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun) & by an Etihad A321 on(Tue, Thur, Sat) – from 30 October 2016.
This is both an upgrade and a downgrade for this flight number. The better equipped Etihad 777-300ER will be a definite improvement over the Jet Airways aircraft but the narrow-body A321 that will operate the flight 3x per week will not feature First Class and will not have lie-flat seats in Business Class.
Abu Dhabi – Johannesburg
EY604/603 Jet Airways Airbus A330-200 to be replaced by an Etihad Airbus A330-200 effective from 1 April 2016 with the 787 Dreamliner still in the schedule to take over from 1 November 2016. Update – the Etihad Airbus is a change to the aircraft operating this route as the Jet Airways A330-200 was originally scheduled to keep flying to 1 November 2016.
This will be a great upgrade for the Business Class cabin with Etihad’s 787-9 Dreamliners coming fitted with their Business Studio seats which I liked so much on a recent Etihad A380 flight.
The Etihad Business Studio seat
As I noted last week, the Abu Dhabi – Johannesburg route is one of the routes that Etihad will operate with their newly configured 2-cabin Dreamliners so First Class will still not be an option.
Abu Dhabi – Kuala Lumpur
EY418/411 Jet Airways 777-300ER to be replaced by an Etihad A330-200. With the existing daily service between Abu Dhabi and Kuala Lumpur already being served by an A330-200 the Kuala Lumpur route becomes Boeing free.
Abu Dhabi – New York JFK
EY101/100 Jet Airways 777-300ER to be replaced by an Etihad 777-300ER – finally!
With the other service to New York (EY103/102) being served by an Airbus A380 the difference between the two offerings was noticeable so it’s good to see the options even out a little (although the A380 pro9duct is still better). Update – This was scheduled to take place from 30 October 2016 but has now been brought forward to 1 June 2016.
Abu Dhabi – San Francisco
EY183/182 Jet Airways 777-300ER to be replaced by an Etihad 777-200LR. Note that this route is getting the other type of 777 that Etihad operates. According to the seat maps on ExpertFlyer this will see the Business Class cabin gain 10 extra seats (from 30 to 40 Business Class seats). Update – This route will now see the aircraft change happen from 23 April 2016 and not 30 October 2016 as previously scheduled.
While passengers on the routes mentioned above should see a distinct improvement in the quality of cabin being offered on their flights one route isn’t quite so lucky…..
Abu Dhabi – Sao Paulo
From 29 February 2016 the Etihad 777-200LR that currently operates this route will be swapped out for a Jet Airways 777-300ER – sorry Brazil, looks like you got the short end of the stick on this one.
Bottom Line
It’s about time Etihad got around to improving the offering on these routes and it’s good news for passengers. With Emirates flying ultra-premium cabins in its A380s and with Qatar Airways upping its game with its new Airbus A350 XWB it was important for Etihad to be seen to step up their game.
