Earlier this year, we discussed the possibility of James Hogan moving out of Etihad as the Group CEO. His starry-eyed strategy did not do too well eventually, with two out of his portfolio of invested carriers sinking. Alitalia is up for sale, and Air Berlin is bleeding badly as well, looking for a suitor perhaps.

In the meanwhile, Etihad has announced that James Hogan will move on as of July 1, 2017. They still do not have a permanent replacement for him, so they will have Ray Gammell, the chief people and performance officer, take over on an interim basis. The company is in the advanced stages of recruiting a permanent CEO.

James Rigney, the CFO, moves on as well from July 1 onwards, and will be replaced by Ricky Thirion.

This bothers me no end, because Etihad went with a differentiated strategy, and it seemed to be working for them. However, with the cut on corporate travel increasing, seems cost cutting is the new profit centre for them.

Here is hoping to see James Hogan at a different carrier sooner than later. Perhaps one of the American big 3 could hire him???