Boeing and Airbus may face order disruption as Etihad has been reviewing its business following nearly $2 billion loss on foreign Airlines investments.
According to Reuters, Abu Dhabi state-owned carrier is reviewing the options for more the 160 aircraft on order valued tens of billions of dollars following losses incurred on its investments. The airline is considering options from swapping models to delaying deliveries to outright cancellations.
Etihad has 88 Airbus and 78 Boeing jets including 62 Airbus A350s and 52 Boeing 787s on order, which are scheduled to start delivery from this year.
Etihad placed bulk orders when it was buying stakes in several other carriers, with the view of transferring orders to airlines it had invested in. But Etihad’s expansion strategy failed last year when Air Berlin and Alitalia collapsed in which Etihad had heavily invested.
Following the unexpected events, Etihad said to restructure its business model and may shuffle orders as part of its strategy.
Both Etihad and Boeing declined to comment citing company policy of not disclosing order discussions with the customers.