Etihad Airways CEO James Hogan said on Monday that the US remains a largely untapped market for the carrier and spoke of how its new Chicago service is set to become an important driver for the airline’s future growth.Hogan was addressing an audience of senior business executives at the AmCham Abu Dhabi Global Leaders lunch, held at the Beach Rotana hotel in Abu Dhabi.
Hogan discussed the growing relationship between Abu Dhabi and Chicago and explained how Etihad’s new service will bring significant economic benefits to America’s third largest city, WAM reported.
Noting that the state of Illinois is home to an estimated 250,000 Arab-Americans Hogan stressed the service would be more than simply bringing travelers from Chicago and the US Midwest to Abu Dhabi and the Middle East.
”Using our hub at Abu Dhabi airport, we will bring thousands of passengers from the Middle East, the Indian sub-continent and Asia to Chicago, benefiting the local economy and helping to create good jobs,” said Hogan.
Hogan also noted how the airline’s presence in the US market has recently been strengthened, following a major code-share agreement with American Airlines. The arrangement extends the two airlines’ global networks by providing easy access between Abu Dhabi and key cities in the US including Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Houston.
Chicago is Etihad’s second US destination joining its daily flight to New York. The launch of the new service has strengthened the carrier’s network in North America, which also includes Toronto, and enjoys an average load factor of 80 percent+.
The Chicago service brings to 56 the number of cities in the carrier’s global network and follows the launch of new services to Melbourne, Astana, Istanbul, Athens, Larnaca and Cape Town so far this year.
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