Etihad chief James Hogan has told fellow airlines to ‘learn from the British’ when it comes to embracing true competition in the industry.
Delivering the 2015 Brabazon Lecture at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London this week, Hogan said Britain was leading the way when it comes to innovation.
Hogan, the airline’s president and CEO, said air travel was stuck with a regulatory system which limits consolidation, competition and consumer choice.
He said the legacy carriers, such as the ‘Big Three’ US airlines and Lufthansa, were doing their best to stifle new competition.
"Currently, the US carriers are investing tens of millions of dollars to attempt to stifle competition, and we have seen similar moves by some the larger European legacy carriers," he said.
But he pointed to British Airways, EasyJet, Ryanair and bmi as good examples of innovators.
"New competition in global air travel must not be stamped out by the entrenched interests of the legacy carriers," he said.
"Air travel is the lifeblood of the modern economy. But while the modern globalised economy has seen trade and tourism jump forward in leaps and bounds, the structure of our industry has shuffled forward only a few tiny steps.
"This is an industry which cries out for new competition, across many different markets; but it is one in which smaller operators can only operate in niche environments."
