June 07, 2015

Etihad Airways Selects Accenture to Support Business Transformation Program


ABU DHABI; June 7, 2015 – Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), today announced the signing of a collaboration agreement with Accenture (NYSE: ACN) to support the implementation of its business transformation program to improve productivity and efficiency and enable growth.

As part of the multi-million dollar agreement, Accenture will provide strategy and management consulting services in the areas of human resources, finance, and procurement and supply management to streamline Etihad Airways’ corporate processes and enable the development of best-in-class capabilities within those functions.

To support this, Accenture will work with the airline’s technology partner, SAP, to implement a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software solution. It will also set up and operate a new Testing Centre of Excellence for these solutions, which will be located in Abu Dhabi as part of Etihad Airways’ existing operations.

Accenture will work alongside Etihad Airways’ staff to ensure knowledge transfer of best practices, and to develop Emirati talent and skills to further support Abu Dhabi’s strategic growth plan.

Etihad Airways’ Chief Information and Technology Officer, Robert Webb, said, “To sustain Etihad Airways’ current and future growth, we need to achieve operational and organisational efficiency by creating an integrated approach to business processes, underpinned by a scalable, common technology platform. We believe that working with world-class business transformation and technology companies like Accenture and SAP will help us realise this goal and prepare our business for years to come with an increased focus on the guest.”

Omar Boulos, regional managing director for Accenture in the Middle East, said, “This business transformation, built on the next-generation SAP® HANA platform, will elevate Etihad Airways to the next level. By developing a technology-driven business strategy, Etihad will benefit from improved productivity and simplified and more integrated core business processes that will give them greater flexibility across the organisation.”

In October 2014, Etihad Airways chose SAP as its strategic technology partner to deploy a range of key SAP® ERP software solutions as a central part of its overall business transformation program. These include SuccessFactors for talent management, Ariba for procurement and business-to-business collaboration, and the SAP HANA® platform for business intelligence and analytics.

About Etihad Airways
Etihad Airways began operations in 2003, and in 2014 carried 14.8 million passengers. From its Abu Dhabi base, Etihad Airways flies to 110 existing or announced passenger and cargo destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas. The airline has a fleet of 116 Airbus and Boeing aircraft, and more than 200 aircraft on firm order, including 69 Boeing 787s, 25 Boeing 777-X, 62 Airbus A350s and eight Airbus A380s.

Etihad Airways holds equity investments in airberlin, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Aer Lingus, Alitalia, Jet Airways, Virgin Australia, and Swiss-based Etihad Regional, operated by Darwin Airline. Etihad Airways, along with airberlin, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Alitalia, Etihad Regional, Jet Airways and NIKI, also participate in Etihad Airways Partners, a new brand that brings together like-minded airlines to offer customers more choice through improved networks and schedules and enhanced frequent flyer benefits. For more information, please visit: www.etihad.com

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 323,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$30.0 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2014. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

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Contacts:

Anthony Hatter
Accenture
+ 44 207 844 5525
+ 44 781 075 6138
anthony.hatter@accenture.com

Justyna Devraj
Accenture
+ 44 20 7844 0090
+ 44 750 012 4567
justyna.devraj@accenture.com

Asif Khan
Etihad Airways
+ 97 1 (0) 2 511 1543
+ 97 1 50 812 1364
asifK@etihad.ae