In India for the airline's 20th anniversary in the country, Neves talks about the aviation space, tie-ups with CSK and Mumbai City FC, and Journey 2030, his seven-year plan for Etihad
Antonoaldo Neves, CEO, Etihad Group
Etihad Group CEO Antonoaldo Neves has a dual mandate: On one hand, he needs the airline to make money, and on the other, he has to deliver outstanding customer service. The 49-year-old has already steered Etihad, which saw a few troubled years of restructuring and scaling down, towards profitability. But, to Neves, the performance is okay. “Okay is the right word,” he says, “as a leader, I can’t window-dress results.”Â
The Brazilian, who joined Etihad from TAP, the national airline of Portugal, has drawn up a seven-year plan in which he looks to double his fleet and triple the number of passengers. In India recently to celebrate Etihad’s 20th-year celebrations in the country, Neves spoke to Forbes India about his roadmap, why India is a key market and why Etihad has tied up with sports teams Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Mumbai City FC. Edited excerpts:
Q. It’s been 20 years of Etihad’s operations in India. How has the business grown during this period?
Etihad celebrated its 20th anniversary about one year ago and we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of India operations now. Which means we started operating in India within the first year of our operations. India is an extremely important market for Etihad. We are bigger than ever in India, we would love to add more flights to India, we would love to add more cities to India.
Etihad in itself is a young airline—we are just 20 years old. That’s the lifetime of an airline like IndiGo. Most of the airlines around the world are 50-plus years old. So, we are like a startup. In our first phase of 15 years, we expanded a lot. And while we did great things during that period, like creating a major global brand, we made some mistakes too, especially on the financial side. And so, the last five years we spent in correcting that. During that time, we shrank and we reduced the size of the airline in India as well. But now we’re back. In 2022, there was a change in the shareholders, whereby the ownership of the Etihad Aviation Group was transferred to ADQ, an Abu Dhabi-based investment and holding company.