Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, has teamed up with marine specialists International Airline Services (IAS) to provide a new, tailor-made travel service for the global marine market.

The Abu Dhabi-based airline has selected IAS as its preferred partner in recognition of the company’s worldwide experience in what is a growing and highly specialised market, said an official spokesman.

Working alongside Etihad, IAS will provide a ‘one-stop-shop’ of travel services to marine industry clients and their appointed travel agents for their ships’ crew movements. IAS will effectively operate as an out-sourced marine reservations department, providing sales, ticketing, accounting and full after-sales services for Etihad customers.

“The marine market is a global and expanding market which Etihad believes it is well positioned to tap into.  We have gone to great lengths to understand the unique needs of this highly specialist market segment and, by linking up with IAS, we believe we have developed an unbeatable product which will prove extremely popular with marine workers,” said Etihad Airways’ vice-president for sales Adrian Parkes.

“We are delighted to enable the launch of Etihad into this specialist market. The volume of world shipping continues to grow and Etihad’s network, which covers all the main supply countries for ships’ crew, will ensure that they will be a very valuable and successful airline in this market segment,” said IAS managing director Bernard Rafferty.

The package offered by Etihad and IAS has been carefully designed to meet the specialist requirements of the marine industry, including competitive fares, flexible ticketing options, access to the airline’s guest loyalty scheme, interline agreements with other airlines and a generous baggage allowance. – TradeArabia News Service