Etihad, a Middle East-based airline is making its biggest ever attempt to attract the premium international traveler with an overhaul of its brands, which also covers a high-end cabin product that provides a private-jet like experience on its new A380 aircraft.
The carrier has rebranded all its travel classes on all its planes to match the arrival of its first A380 and Boeing B787 Dreamliner planes later in 2014.
According to The Australian, Etihad will launch a new forward upper-deck cabin on its new A380 aircraft, which has been branded The Residence by Etihad.
In a bid to command the high-spending travel market, the Abu Dhabi-based airline will offer a miniature suit with a private bedroom, birth room and features such as an exclusive butler.
The luxury features are part of a comprehensive roll out involving new cabin products for dozens of long-range planes that will arrive over the coming years.
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Describing the offerings as the first multi-room suite of its kind, Etihad Chief Executive James Hogan admitted that the products were meant to create hype, but in the end, these were a serious attempt to bolster revenue.
“Obviously there’s going to be a halo effect in the positioning of Etihad Air as a premium carrier. But we wouldn’t do it unless we felt we could make money with it. … This is a top-end market. There is demand here,†Etihad boss is quoted by ABC as saying.
Etihad is the smallest player of three fast-growing Gulf carriers supported by governments and which have popularized new air travel routes through their desert hubs.
Since it was established in 2003, the company has expanded its fleet to 96 planes. The airline carried 11.5 million passengers in 2013. It anticipates the arrival of more than 220 planes, 71 of which will be Boeing 787s. The fleet expansion plan also includes 10 Airbus A380s.
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