Flying High

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NEERJA BHATIA

Vice president, Indian subcontinent,Etihad Airways

A textile designer by profession, with a degree in maths and sociology, 56-year-old Mumbai-based Neerja Bhatia’s journey with Etihad Airways began in 2004 as a sales manager for western India. 15 years on, she spearheads the airline’s commercial activities in India, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, Seychelles and Sri Lanka, leading an all-women team that takes care of marketing, finance, cargo, and airport operations in the region. Marrying her former love, fashion, with her current responsibilities, Bhatia played a key role in leveraging one of Etihad Airways’s most illustrious recent associations in India—its 2016 agreement with WME | IMG. As a part of this initiative, Etihad Airways extended its support to 17 global fashion weeks annually, with India’s Lakmé Fashion Week being one of them.

Q: What, in your mind, sets Etihad apart?

A: The fact that our guest experience begins well before departure and lasts way beyond arrival; so not just our product, but our services too. For instance, the US pre-clearance facility which enables fliers to complete US immigration and customs at Abu Dhabi International Airport before boarding their US-bound flights.

Q: What do you like to do when you’re not working?