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DUBAI, Oct 19 (Reuters) – The parent company of Abu Dhabi’s state-owned airline Etihad has named Antonoaldo Neves as its new chief executive, replacing Tony Douglas transfer Etihad’s ownership of wealth fund ADQ, ADQ said on Wednesday.
ADQ said in a statement that Douglas, who has been Etihad Airways’ chief executive since 2018, has decided to pursue another unspecified opportunity, where he will serve as an advisor to ADQ Aviation and Aerospace Services Company’s board.
According to his LinkedIn, Neves served as CEO and board member of TAP, the national airline of Portugal, from July 2017 to September 2020.
Etihad has scaled back its ambitions after spending billions of dollars in a bid to build a major airport hub in the United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi.
In 2017, the company embarked on a five-year transformation plan that cost it billions of dollars after a failed strategy to acquire stakes in other airlines.
“Tony has led Etihad through some of the most challenging times and has successfully transformed Etihad Airways into a profitable and sustainable business over the past five years,” Etihad Airways Director Chief Muhammad Ali Al-Shorafa said in a statement.
In the statement, Neves said he was excited about his role at Etihad, “a globally recognized brand in the industry” and said he believed it would continue its “sustainable growth journey”.
Douglas, during his tenure at Etihad who scaled back ambitions and began restructuring into a mid-sized airline focused on point-to-point transport, said he was proud to be chief executive.
As the smallest of Abu Dhabi’s three sovereign wealth funds, ADQ has become one of the most active in the region deal makerIt started in 2018 as a holding company for government assets and has been consolidating its portfolio, privatizing some assets and making strategic acquisitions to create a “national champion.”
On Tuesday, it said the Abu Dhabi government had transferred ownership of the Etihad Airways Group to ADQ as part of its efforts to “transform Abu Dhabi into a global aviation hub”.
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Reporting by Yusuf Saba; Editing by Jan Harvey and Muralikumar Anantharaman
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