Abu Dhabi based Etihad airlines is reducing its capacity on the Mumbai – Abu Dhabi sector due to poor load in the premium class cabins. The airline however claims it to be a temporary change due to seasonal adjustments. The Airbus 380 was launched amidst a lot of fanfare in Mumbai last May but is already on its way out of Mumbai. It boasted of being able to accommodate 496 passengers and had the three room private cabin called The Residence in addition to its business and first classes. As part of its launch offer, a return ticket from Mumbai to Abu Dhabi for two passengers in the Residencewas sold for approximately 7 lakhs.
The A380 will be replaced by Airbus 340 from July 2017. The A380 will now ply on the Abu Dhabi -Paris route during the peak summer travel months. Paris now joins London, New York, Melbourne and Sydney as the airlines long haul A380 destinations.
Even though there is definitely a surge in airline travel in India, this move by Etihad clearly indicates that Indians are still a bit vary of spending huge sums of money on luxury travel.
[Via:Business-Standard]
