SPECULATION IS RIFE IN #TANZANIA THAT ETIHAD MAY DITCH THE DESTINATION LIKE THEY DID WITH ENTEBBE
(Posted 14th June 2018)
With Etihad remaining silent is the Tanzanian travel and tourism grapevine busy discussing the true or not true of suggestions that, like Etihad did in Uganda earlier this year, the airline may also pull out of Tanzania and only keep Nairobi as their primary destination in Eastern Africa.
Already code sharing with Kenya Airways for onward flights out of Nairobi would this allow them to keep up appearances of a wide network but without the expense of losing money on routes as was reportedly the case with their Entebbe services.
The airline’s Uganda flights were of course also not a market favourite given that unlike other Gulf airlines Etihad only flew a few times a week between Abu Dhabi and Entebbe and not daily like their main rivals Qatar Airways and Emirates.
From various sources was it mentioned that with the start of the traditional winter schedule airlines follow, which means some time in October, Dar es Salaam flights would be halted, as the airline struggles to get out of the financial doldrums created by their failed investment policies which saw mega bucks sunk into defunct Air Berlin in Germany, Darwin Airlines in Switzerland and of course moribund Alitalia.
There in particular the unions at the time made life too difficult for the major shareholders to implement reforms and downsize the airline that it had to go into bankruptcy mode – still flying but only kept in the air with massive state support.
Etihad eventually pulled the financial plug, having been lured into this adventure with eyes wide open but unable to see the reality and at a cost even the super rich state of Abu Dhabi could no longer afford.
It remains to be seen how, or if at all, Etihad will react to the grape vine talk and once confirmation has been received, be sure to read about it right here.
