UAE: Etihad Airways To Stop Flights To Tehran January 2018

The airline has asked affected passengers to switch to an alternative travel date between December 25 and January 23, or be refunded.

Etihad Airways will scrap flights to Tehran on January 24, the latest route to be dropped as the Abu Dhabi airline pursues a strategy review.

The airline launched the review in 2016 that has also seen it sell or step away from investments in foreign carriers.

Etihad's five weekly flights to Iran's capital will be reduced to two a week between December 25 and January 23, before it suspends the route entirely on January 24, an airline spokeswoman said.

She declined to say why the route was being suspended, but said in a statement that affected passengers could switch to an alternative travel date between December 25 and January 23, or be refunded.

Since launching the strategy review, Etihad has said it would cut flights to San Francisco and Dallas-Fort Worth in the US.

The airline has regretted for inconvenience caused to passengers with existing bookings.

Passengers holding bookings for travel up to January 23 and affected by the schedule change will be re-booked with an alternative travel date subject to availability or offered the choice of a full refund.

Passengers with bookings from January 24 will be offered a full refund.

Britain's top defence buyer Tony Douglas will join Etihad next month as its new group chief executive, as the airline rethinks its rapid expansion strategy.

Two of Etihad's major foreign investments, Air Berlin and Italy's Alitalia, filed for administration this year.

Douglas, who joins Etihad from Britain's Ministry of Defence, has previously served as chief executive of Abu Dhabi's airport company.

Etihad has made few details public about its strategy review, which since being launched has seen the departure of its James Hogan, its group chief executive who led the airline for a decade.



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