00:00We have not yet announced any change of strategy.
00:07What I can say is that we have initiated major developments in the recent months, especially
00:15in the area of technology and the customisation of product, because the years are gone where
00:26airlines have just sold three products, which is the first business class in the economy.
00:32The expectations of consumers today are that you can customise a product that suits you
00:40best.
00:42You are no longer willing to pay for products that are not the perfect match or fit.
00:48You are no longer willing to pay for a product that is bundled up with components in there
00:56that has no value for you.
00:59Airlines were not very good in that in the past, because we have a very high dependency
01:04on legacy technology, especially on the distribution side.
01:10With the fourth industrial revolution also knocking on our door, digital technology that
01:17allows us to get less dependent on legacy technology, allows us now to tap into this
01:23opportunity.
01:24When you saw us introducing neighbour-free seats or bagless fares or extra legroom seats
01:31and all those products, it's a first teaser of where the journey will be going.
01:37This year we have slowed down our growth, for example.
01:40That was a direct response to a changing environment.
01:46We had since 2015 quite a marked overcapacity situation, ever increasing since then to this
01:56very moment, with overcapacity on key overlapping competitive traffic flows.
02:08We were responding to that in a very agile way.
02:11We have slowed down our growth last year.
02:13We are almost flat in growth in ASK this year, which was a direct response to that situation.
02:22Our yields in the past years, in this part of the world especially, have come down very,
02:31very strongly.
02:32In the past three to four years it was up to 30% yield drop for all airlines of this
02:37part of the world.
02:40That was certainly a necessity to react to that, because every responsible business does.
02:46That is a change of previous growth plans and has high strategic thinking.
02:53Is it fair to say that you would look to grow more organically now, rather than equity partnerships?
03:01It is a good point.
03:02It is more than ever our focus to make sure that we first of all optimise our network
03:10to the point-to-point market, so our direct connections.
03:16This is important for Etihad to have a strong share of the overall mix that we carry, that
03:24we maximise the share of this point-to-point market, because that's higher yield.
03:29That's better quality of revenue for us than being overly dependent on highly price-sensitive
03:38connecting leisure business.
03:39There's certainly a stronger focus than ever on maximising that, but also to make a major
03:46contribution to destination Abu Dhabi.
03:49Abu Dhabi is growing strongly as a destination in its own right, within the UAE, with a strong
03:58foothold and footprint on the leisure and tourism side, with investment into tourism
04:07infrastructure that now comes alive, such as most recently the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
04:12This is another moment reflecting here.
04:15Absolutely.
04:16That's what we call the facets of Abu Dhabi as part of our brand strategy, but on a very
04:20serious note, these are major milestones for destination Abu Dhabi to achieve, to put Abu
04:26Dhabi into a global limelight, and putting Abu Dhabi firmly on the map, and attract incoming
04:34tourism and traffic flows that haven't been there in the past.
04:38Of course, we want to be right there when it all happens, and further help stimulating
04:43that.
04:45But also the business footprint, with Abu Dhabi global markets as an example.
04:51These are major developments, but we need to make sure that we grow in line with our
04:59home market development and growth, and our key regional markets, to make sure that our
05:03traffic is always in the right proportion.
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