Charting a year of change
Entry Overview:
It has been a year of unprecedented change and challenge for the Etihad Aviation Group. It saw a major leadership transition and executive changes, the launch of a group strategic review, and significant financial losses after five years of profitability.
The industry continued to face enormous external pressures, including over-capacity and consolidation, security threats, and geo-political challenges, impacting passenger traffic and yields like never before. As a result, the airline is in the midst of a transformation programme to ensure it stays competitive and commercially sustainable.
As a communications team, our primary challenge has been to stabilise perceptions of the business and demonstrate the strength and quality of the airline, to protect the group’s reputation, and retain the trust and confidence of its stakeholders in Abu Dhabi and internationally.
We have also had to be agile in proactively managing and protecting the brand and the reputation of our shareholder against a backdrop of the prevailing industry and economic conditions, and the major changes to airline strategy and offering.
While undergoing its own changes, as a result of restructuring and a more holistic up-to-date strategic vision, the team successfully managed several milestone announcements, including the departure of the previous and longstanding PCEO, the launch of a major group strategic review, the airline’s first financial losses since 2011, and the insolvency of two of its European equity partners, Alitalia and airberlin.
The team also managed several big issues with speed and agility, notably the US laptop and travel bans, and the security issue in Australia.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom, and the team achieved positive successes in the local market with the Emirati Women’s Day campaign and in supporting the marketing and sponsorship teams in global collaborations with IMG during 17 Fashion Week events and 12 global Taste events.