Etihad has announced an airline restructuring programme. The airline has said it will be a “measured reduction of their headcount in some parts of the business” although they have not committed to how many jobs will be lost.

The airline, one of the Middle East success stories of the last 15 years has reduced the number of destinations it serves from 116 in 2015 to 112 at the end of October this year.

The annoucement comes in the wake of falling passenger numbers at the airline and is an attempt to cut costs and improve productivity “against a backdrop of weakened global economic conditions”.

Emirates have also recently announced huge losses citing similar reasons. Could these carriers have expanded too quickly?

Furthermore, with Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha being used as a link between Western Europe and Austraila along with Singapore and Hong Kong, Qantas has announced plans to fly non-stop from Western Austrailia to London which could further hit the Middle Eastern carriers revenue.