Strategic Airline Alliances Leader

SmartRecruiters, Inc.; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 300,000 - 460,000; Full time

Job summary

Etihad Airways is seeking a visionary Head of Strategic Airline Partnerships & Alliances to lead the development and execution of our global alliance strategy from Abu Dhabi. You will oversee negotiation and governance of transformative joint ventures, codeshares, and capacity arrangements, driving sustainable commercial value across the network.

In this leadership role, you will partner with senior leaders across Revenue Management, Network Planning, Sales, Marketing, Finance, Operations,

Qualifications

• Minimum 12 years of leadership experience in aviation.
• Deep expertise in airline alliances, partnerships, joint ventures, codeshares, or network cooperation agreements.
• Experience in Revenue Management, Network Planning, Sales, Commercial Strategy, or Pricing.
• Strong track record of leading complex negotiations and delivering commercially successful outcomes.
• Experience building compelling business cases and influencing senior executive stakeholders.
• Outstanding stakeholder management and relationship-building skills.
• A global network of airline industry contacts and relationships.
• Ability to operate strategically while remaining hands-on in execution.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute Etihad's strategic airline partnership agenda in line with broader commercial objectives.
• Identify, evaluate, and secure new partnership opportunities including joint ventures, codeshares, interline agreements, capacity arrangements, and other innovative partnership models.
• Strengthen and expand existing partnerships into deeper, more strategic relationships.
• Lead complex commercial negotiations and secure internal approval for major partnership investments.
• Build robust business cases and present recommendations to executive leadership and Board-level stakeholders.
• Implement and govern strategic partnerships to ensure delivery of agreed commercial outcomes.
• Drive cross-functional collaboration across Revenue Management, Network Planning, Sales, Marketing, Loyalty, Cargo, Operations, Finance, and Legal teams.
• Expand partnership opportunities beyond passenger revenue into loyalty, cargo, ancillaries, and operational collaboration.
• Monitor, evaluate, and optimise partnership performance through commercial and profitability metrics.

Skills

Leadership experience

Alliances expertise

Commercial strategy

Negotiation skills

Business case development

Stakeholder management

Global network

Strategic execution

Job description

Etihad Airways is seeking a visionary Head of Strategic Airline Partnerships & Alliances to lead the development and execution of our global alliance strategy from Abu Dhabi. You will oversee negotiation and governance of transformative joint ventures, codeshares, and capacity arrangements, driving sustainable commercial value across the network.

In this leadership role, you will partner with senior leaders across Revenue Management, Network Planning, Sales, Marketing, Finance, Operations,