CHENNAI: Abu Dhabi-headquartered Etihad Airways has announced its partnership with Chennai Super Kings for the next three years. The company didn’t mention value of the agreement and expected it to be for a longer period.
Name of the carrier will be displayed in the back of CSK Jersey. They will be on boarding and other displays. CSK, one of the richest cricket franchises in India, will get about 100 crore from all sponsorships. Etihad, eyeing increased share from the Indian market, announced Katrina Kaif as brand ambassador last year.
“The two things that are pan-Indian are cricket and Bollywood,” said Arik De, chief revenue and commercial officer of Etihad. He said the company grew 30% in India since the pandemic, in terms of number of flights.
“The growth is on track this year.” Etihad added Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram in January and currently operates 10 routes. It has 42,000 seats capacity along with its partner Air Arabia. He said Etihad’s load factor is 85- 90%, high compared to competitors, and provides a total of 165 weekly flights connecting to more than 70 destinations worldwide.