Etihad Freighter Fleet continues to evolve during 2018

Etihad has undergone a full evaluation of it’s business model during 2018 with the removal of a considerable number of aircraft from it’s fleet.  The A330-200F’s all went between December 2017 and January 2018 making for some major cargo space upheaval as freighter routes were cut from the network.

It now looks like the picture is becoming clearer with the focus being on specific areas utilising additional flights on existing freighter routes which Etihad are already servicing whilst dropping some routes altogether.  The focus seems now to be on strengthening further those routes which are more profitable rather than developing the Etihad brand into more and more markets with no additional Freighter only routes being announced.

Weekly rotations from 01st October. :

• Shanghai x 5
• Amsterdam x 3
• Chennai x 3
• Columbus x 3
• Frankfurt x 3
• Dammam x 2
• Dhaka x 2
• East Midlands x 2
• Hanoi x 2
• Hong Kong x 2
• Mumbai x 2
• Bangalore x 1
• Chittagong x 1
• Delhi x 1

Etihad Airlines and Ad-Hoc charter capacity

They are also holding back an aircraft to utilise for ad-hoc charter flying for Q4 which they claim already has orders for use.  The above is a much stripped down freighter offering from where Eithad Airways have been in previous years and the loss of Nairobi may be seen by many freight forwarders as a big hole in their network with Africa not represented at all in their freighter fleet.

Africa, Should Etihad Airways be looking to service at least one destination.

Africa is a growing market which has long been plagued by huge fluctuations in the volume of cargo being moved.  Some destinations are steadier than others but a lot of what moves into and out of Africa can be catered for using Belly-Hold cargo.  Certainly as a dedicated freighter route Nairobi would have been seen as a route which should be able to hold it’s own.  For Etihad to omit it from their winter 2018 freighter schedule can only be down to the profitability of the route.  It will be interesting to see what the forwarding market make of these changes and whether the loss of another freighter option into Africa has any impact.