Etihad to retire its entire Boeing 777-300ER fleet

Etihad Airways - Boeing 777-300ER (A6-ETH) - AirTeamImages.com - Serge Bailleul

On April 22nd, 2021, Etihad Airways announced the retirement of all its Boeing 777-300ERs from its fleet starting this year.

The Abu Dhabi-based carrier had already retired the Boeing 777-200ER from its operations, retaining 19 Boeing 777-300ERs for commercial flight operations. Etihad currently has five Boeing 777 Freighters, but the future of these aircraft is unknown.

Etihad Airways CEO, Tony Douglas, made the announcement at the World Aviation Festival. According to him, "You will see that we have a very focused and disciplined operating model, heavily built on the Boeing (787) and Airbus (A350-1000) fleet," said the CEO.

Etihad Airways - Airbus A350-1041 (F-WZNI) - Planespotters.net - Lukas Dierks 

Etihad Airways - Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner (A6-BNB) - AirTeamImages.com - Artyom Anikeev

What is the reason for the withdrawal of the Boeing 777-300ER and the fleet reduction?

One of the reasons for the airline's fleet reduction is the crisis caused by Sars-CoV-2. Due to this crisis, Etihad intends to maintain a more streamlined operation with new and modern aircraft such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350-1000.

As a restructuring plan, the airline will make these changes within five years, with changes in its fleet to reduce costs and increase profits.

Etihad Airways flight statistics on RadarBox: 

The Image above: Flight statistics between April 16th and April 20th

Etihad Airways aircraft utilization statistics on RadarBox:

Etihad Airways Route Heatmap on RadarBox: