“Eti………….what”

When most airlines launch new services to Australia they are normally “brands” we have heard of and are familiar with, but when Etihad recently arrived down under, the question “Eti………..what or who” resounded around the industry and must have also been on many travellers lips when making their decision on who to fly on from Australia to the Middle East and often on to Europe and the USA.

New Etihad Country Manager Australia, Cramer Ball told The Mole, that Etihad launched services on 27 March three times a week into Australia and the response had been fantastic, saying, “We have had full loads in all cabins for many days and we are full in F and J on all flights for the next two weeks between Sydney and Abu Dhabi.”

Joined by Sales Executive Jon Spring, [Cramer and Jon are pictured right with Cramer on the left] when asked what he put that down to, Cramer said, “Many things, we started with a very strong marketing campaign and we are continuing that, building the brand, right back from November was critical and we targeted business media to capture the business traveller for the front of the aircraft.” 

“Another factor is that those that know us, know that our reputation is one of the very highest quality and although we have only been going three years we have a great brand and our operation, marketing and brand all reflect that superlative quality of service, with that applying right across all classes and not only that we promise quality, but most importantly we not only promise but we deliver that quality.”

“In this age of airlines stripping back costs in the aviation industry, we also believe that the consumer has embraced an airline that is investing in quality aircraft and quality service, with clear passion right across Etihad for what we do.

Cramer said, “For example, I had a meeting with our caterers at Mascot and the owner of the business and when I asked how we stacked up against his other airline clients he said to me, mate it is good to see and airline investing in what they do on board and with everyone else cutting back, you guys are making sure that your clients have the very best.” 

“Of course that doesn’t mean we are not cost conscious, we most certainly are, but not at the cost of the quality of our service because that is core to our business.”

“We provide a full service as a premium airline right across all classes and even in economy our on board in flight service is fantastic, the meals are big and the best in the sky, constant food throughout the flight – we even serve Nudie Juice in economy – and we are receiving amazing feedback on our Coral Zone economy seats, where we offer a bigger set and more room, laptop power in each seat, USB points in all seats and passengers are not crammed in the cabin to connect anything to your inflight system, where you will find 400 hours of entertainment, with an 11” screen in economy and a 23” screen in first – the largest in the sky.”

“Also our economy seats are unique in that the seat squab or base also moves forward when you recline so that gives you full support when you lie down and the beds in First are 6’8 long!”

“The Sydney aircraft is a new aircraft so we are not compromising anything, with in economy passengers only one seat away from the aisle and in business every seat having direct access to the aisle and we also provide noise cancelling headphones in all cabins – so along with great food, service and crew, this makes us unique and we believe, the carrier to fly from Australia to anywhere in the world.

The Mole asked Cramer if considering all the carriers in the Middle East that were now operating services into Australia (although since the interview Gulf Air has announced it is pulling out of Australia), was price still the determinant of choice of carrier or was quality or was it a combination of the two?

Cramer said that travellers recognise that you get what you pay for and while Etihad will always be competitive, we will not be the cheapest and will always offer undoubtedly the very best quality, full service, premium service to the Middle East and to many destinations in Europe and elsewhere with excellent connections through our hub in Abu Dhabi.

Cramer added that he believed that another factor that had made Etihad so successful was that they were offering a one stop service from Sydney to virtually anywhere in the world – for example, one stop to the UK, one stop to Europe, one stop to New York and one stop to Toronto, with the demand for New York out of Sydney has been amazing, blowing our small expectations of demand for that route from Australia out of the water!

Cramer [Pictured right at the recent Sydney launch] also said it is clear that Etihad and its competing Middle East carriers are changing the face of travel from Australia to the rest of the world with the Middle Eastern “hubs” becoming the new gateways to rest of the world, for example if you want to fly to Milan, why would you fly all the way to London, when you can fly via Abu Dhabi, a quicker, better quality service with much better connections the traditional European and in particular UK hubs.

In terms of marketing in Australia and in particular awareness with agents, Cramer said that the awareness stated with their media campaign, announcement of services and trade announcement and that Etihad has also made a conscious decision to pay agents commission at 9% and also pay commission on fuel surcharges, which he believes shows Etihad’s commitment to the agency community and how important that are to Etihad.

Cramer said, “This has given us cut through and I have been blown away with the response from the industry overall with serious players approaching us and saying they are a bit tired of the alternatives and want something new and that they are really looking forward to working with us.”   “I have never experienced that, which has been really heartening and we are so busy meeting with as many people as we can to explain what we are and what we are all about that we are going flat out.”

Speaking of growth, Cramer told The Mole that Etihad goes daily from June and that they are confident that they will maintain the loads with the daily services and of course business is a mix of inbound and outbound and that is a good balance to have.

Cramer said, “We are staring from a zero base in Australia and the aim is initially build awareness, starting out with advertising with price and then communicating with the industry and our launch with an aircraft brought here especially for that was really well received.”

“Moving from three flights to daily consolidates our presence and it is a big jump and we are concentrating on our own back yard and what we know well.”   “We have recruited a really great, strong team and we started small – I started working from home on my wife’s computer and here we are now with sophisticated office with a great tem all working very hard to position us in the Australian market place.”  “We went through an exhaustive process to ensure that we secured the right and very best team, because we believe that the people are the brand and vice versa and now we are bedding down the processes.”

He added, “Call demand has been amazing, with our biggest challenge having been handling the sheer volume of calls both here in our Aus call centre with some calls being diverted to our Abu Dhabi call centre, which is dedicated to Australia and we have also received very positive response to their service.”  “Australia calls are double what we budgeted for – we are receiving more calls in the Aus call centre than to one for India!

When asked about targets Cramer said, “We have been given some pretty tough targets and James Hogan, the CEO is tough manager, but fair, but the targets are not small.”  “Nevertheless, we want to make sure though that what we do is the best and it is not necessarily about being the biggest, but it is about being the best and that is what we want to be know for”  “James has made it clear that our mission is to be the best airline in the world.”

Customers are telling us that we are exceeding all expectations and while some were unfamiliar with the brand name, the recognition and loads and yield we are getting are all amazing, with the word out there – we have won the award for the World’s leading new airline in the World Travel awards for three years running.

We also have really great Etihad Guest Immediate Rewards Programme – the only programme in which we believe members can top up their points with cash and we are seeing very strong take up in Australia, we believe is because it offers great flexibility.

Cramer closed with “Come and try the best airline in the world!

Thank you Cramer and The Mole looks forward to it!