Etihad Ditches Routes as It Comes to the Crunch

Etihad Airways has announced that the reason for the cancelation of flights from Abu Dhabi to Tehran and Entebbe in Uganda is to follow the commercial assessments of the routes' performance.

UAE's flag carrier had a bad year in 2017. The airline lost its investment partners Airberlin and Alitalia. It amounts to a record loss for this airline owned by the UAE government, eturbonews.com reported.

Luckily the airline is owned by the oil-rich government, what eliminates bankruptcy, but saving money without compromising premium services seems to be on the top agenda for Etihad Airways. Even premium services may now come with a price tag, but this is routine in the aviation world.

With a new CEO the airline seems to be looking at ways to save money and return to profit. In a surprise move the airline now says no to what they once called lucrative Iran market. Flights from Abu Dhabi to Tehran are currently operating twice a week and on January 24 the route will be eliminated in the Etihad network.

At the same time, Etihad confirmed that flights from Abu Dhabi to Entebbe, Uganda (and return) will be canceled effective from March 25, 2018.

This is definitely a blow to the Uganda tourism industry since Etihad passengers from North America and Europe had easy connections in Abu Dhabi to Uganda.