All industries experienced disruption in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but for the aviation industry it was an unprecedented crisis.
“Heartbreaking” is how the group chief executive of Etihad Airways, Tony Douglas, described the moment the airline’s entire fleet was completey grounded on March 23, in an effort to stop the spread of coronavirus.
However, “it was absolutely the right thing to do”, said Mr Douglas, who has more than three decades of experience in the aviation industry.
Covid-19 has "eclipsed" all other crises faced by the sector because of the impact that it has had, he said.
In the last of the seven-part series of conversations for the My 2020 podcast, with leaders on the impact of Covid-19, Mr Douglas spoke of how the aviation industry has changed – and will have to continue to change.
He said there are so many negatives in 2020 but “you can learn an awful lot from negatives”.
He said that for Etihad, lockdown “gave us an opportunity to do a number of things that would have taken a lot longer and perhaps would have been more difficult”, including “Project Cabin ... surgical cleansing of every one of our aircraft and the biggest maintenance programme in Etihad’s history”.
As Covid-19 developed into a global health crisis, Mr Douglas said it became increasingly clear that leaders had to handle a "certain degree of ambiguity".
He added "the one thing you can't create is what I would describe as false certainty”.
Mr Douglas addressed the “hardest decision” he had to make in this difficult year, and that was “having to make some downsizing decisions within the [Etihad] family”.
He added “There have been announcements almost on a daily basis, from airlines all around the world, in regard to a fight for survival, and the need, therefore, to adjust size and posture. And of course, we're not immune to that [and] we've had to take responsible decisions”.
As Etihad reassessed its overall strategy, it has adjusted to become “a mid-sized carrier”.
Mr Douglas explained that means “we'll concentrate on the high performing new aircraft fleet that we've got, and making sure basically, we play the long game now.
"The byproduct of that is we have had to let many members of the Etihad family leave us ... and these people have been [making] outstanding contributions to our business.
"This was not of their making. And quite frankly, they didn't deserve it. But in order to preserve the business, in order to preserve the position where we can come out of this stronger through the other side, it was a necessary thing to do.”
Mr Douglas made clear the difficulty of this decision “because every one of these people that put their heart and their soul in supporting Etihad. These people all have families and personal tragedies were impacting many people at the same time”.
Looking to 2021, Mr Douglas said airlines had to continue to be agile and able to deal with the inevitable uncertainty facing the world. However, he said that he hoped “2021 will allow us to give a little bit more positive direction of how we're going to recover during next year”.
My 2020 is a seven-part series, hosted by Mina Al-Oraibi, The National's Editor-in-Chief, who speaks to leaders on how their lives and industries have been altered by Covid-19.
Like a Fading Shadow
Antonio Muñoz Molina
Translated from the Spanish by Camilo A. Ramirez
Tuskar Rock Press (pp. 310)
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
The stats
Ship name: MSC Bellissima
Ship class: Meraviglia Class
Delivery date: February 27, 2019
Gross tonnage: 171,598 GT
Passenger capacity: 5,686
Crew members: 1,536
Number of cabins: 2,217
Length: 315.3 metres
Maximum speed: 22.7 knots (42kph)
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
if you go
The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct to Kolkata from Dh1,504 and Dh1,450 return including taxes, respectively. The flight takes four hours 30 minutes outbound and 5 hours 30 minute returning.
The trains
Numerous trains link Kolkata and Murshidabad but the daily early morning Hazarduari Express (3’ 52”) is the fastest and most convenient; this service also stops in Plassey. The return train departs Murshidabad late afternoon. Though just about feasible as a day trip, staying overnight is recommended.
The hotels
Mursidabad’s hotels are less than modest but Berhampore, 11km south, offers more accommodation and facilities (and the Hazarduari Express also pauses here). Try Hotel The Fame, with an array of rooms from doubles at Rs1,596/Dh90 to a ‘grand presidential suite’ at Rs7,854/Dh443.
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
Company%20profile
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE and Russia in numbers
UAE-Russia ties stretch back 48 years
Trade between the UAE and Russia reached Dh12.5 bn in 2018
More than 3,000 Russian companies are registered in the UAE
Around 40,000 Russians live in the UAE
The number of Russian tourists travelling to the UAE will increase to 12 percent to reach 1.6 million in 2023
High profile Al Shabab attacks
- 2010: A restaurant attack in Kampala Uganda kills 74 people watching a Fifa World Cup final football match.
- 2013: The Westgate shopping mall attack, 62 civilians, five Kenyan soldiers and four gunmen are killed.
- 2014: A series of bombings and shootings across Kenya sees scores of civilians killed.
- 2015: Four gunmen attack Garissa University College in northeastern Kenya and take over 700 students hostage, killing those who identified as Christian; 148 die and 79 more are injured.
- 2016: An attack on a Kenyan military base in El Adde Somalia kills 180 soldiers.
- 2017: A suicide truck bombing outside the Safari Hotel in Mogadishu kills 587 people and destroys several city blocks, making it the deadliest attack by the group and the worst in Somalia’s history.
The language of diplomacy in 1853
Treaty of Peace in Perpetuity Agreed Upon by the Chiefs of the Arabian Coast on Behalf of Themselves, Their Heirs and Successors Under the Mediation of the Resident of the Persian Gulf, 1853
(This treaty gave the region the name “Trucial States”.)
We, whose seals are hereunto affixed, Sheikh Sultan bin Suggar, Chief of Rassool-Kheimah, Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon, Chief of Aboo Dhebbee, Sheikh Saeed bin Buyte, Chief of Debay, Sheikh Hamid bin Rashed, Chief of Ejman, Sheikh Abdoola bin Rashed, Chief of Umm-ool-Keiweyn, having experienced for a series of years the benefits and advantages resulting from a maritime truce contracted amongst ourselves under the mediation of the Resident in the Persian Gulf and renewed from time to time up to the present period, and being fully impressed, therefore, with a sense of evil consequence formerly arising, from the prosecution of our feuds at sea, whereby our subjects and dependants were prevented from carrying on the pearl fishery in security, and were exposed to interruption and molestation when passing on their lawful occasions, accordingly, we, as aforesaid have determined, for ourselves, our heirs and successors, to conclude together a lasting and inviolable peace from this time forth in perpetuity.
Taken from Britain and Saudi Arabia, 1925-1939: the Imperial Oasis, by Clive Leatherdale
