Etihad Airways has sealed a sponsorship agreement with Melbourne City Football Club as the Middle East displaces Asian cities as the main transit point for flights from Australia to Europe.
The five-year sponsorship agreement and a new team kit were unveiled yesterday by Scott Munn, the chief executive of Melbourne City FC and James Hogan, the president and chief executive of Etihad. The club plays in the country’s top league, the Hyundai A-League.
"Etihad Airways and the city of Melbourne have a special relationship," said Mr Hogan. "It's not only one of the most popular destinations in our global network, it's also the home of Etihad Stadium, Melbourne's premier sports and entertainment precinct."
Melbourne City FC is owned by Manchester City Football Club, which is in turn owned by Abu Dhabi and also sponsored by Etihad. The Spanish footballer David Villa is currently on loan at Melbourne City from New York City Football Club (also owned by Manchester City). And it has been reported in the past week that he will soon be joined by the English footballer Frank Lampard, who will also be heading to New York later when the club begins operations.
The Melbourne City squad and management team was scheduled to fly this evening from Melbourne with Etihad via Abu Dhabi for the club’s pre-season tour of England.
Behind the football there are more serious shifts happening in global airline routes from Australia. The steady rise in the past decade of Dubai International Airport, the world's second busiest in terms of international passenger traffic after London Heathrow, as well as the airports of Doha and Abu Dhabi, have been steadily eroding market share for the transit links of Singapore and Bangkok. Flights from Australia to Europe can take more than 20 hours and can only be done commercially in two stages, with traditionally Asia being the most popular stopover.
The real game changer came last year when Dubai's Emirates Airline tied up with Qantas, Australia's biggest airline, taking a sizeable chunk of business away from Singapore. (It also meant an end to the partnership with British Airways, which was affectionately known as the Kangaroo route from Australia to London via Singapore.)
Singapore has not taken the increasing encroachment of deep-pocketed Gulf airlines lying down. The city state’s fair trade watchdog recently started investigating Etihad’s purchase of a 24 per cent stake in India’s Jet Airways to see if it will affect competition with Singapore Airlines, as both Etihad and Jet offer direct flights to Singapore.
Apart from the football, Etihad also has other Australian connections. Etihad owns a 21.24 per cent stake of Virgin Australia, the second-biggest airline in Australia, along with codesharing agreements between the two carriers. Etihad operates daily flights between its hub in Abu Dhabi and Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. It has a First and Business Class Lounge at Sydney International Airport and will open another at Melbourne International Airport in the first half of 2015.
As well as Melbourne City and Manchester City, Etihad also sponsors Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium, Manchester’s Etihad Stadium, the All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship, and the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The Hyundai A-League began in 2004 with its first season of competition in 2005. It is run by the Football Federation Australia and currently consists of 10 teams. The season runs from October to May and culminates in a grand final.
mkassem@thenational.ae
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