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Etihad Airways and New York University Abu Dhabi Collaborate on New Executive Leadership Development Programme

The Leadership in Action programme, exclusively designed for Etihad Airways, aims to strengthen and cultivate leadership skills across the airline, with a major focus on UAE national executives. The programme will also benefit Etihad Airways’ subsidiaries and its equity partner airlines.

Press Release

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), to develop and deliver an executive leadership development programme.

The Leadership in Action programme, exclusively designed for Etihad Airways, aims to strengthen and cultivate leadership skills across the airline, with a major focus on UAE national executives. The programme will also benefit Etihad Airways’ subsidiaries and its equity partner airlines.

After a rigorous assessment process, 30 senior executives were selected from across the organisation, including 15 UAE national employees, as well as two executives from Alitalia.

The participants will undertake the comprehensive eight-month programme combining invaluable executive training with on-the-job learning and executive coaching.

Ray Gammell, Etihad Airways’ Chief People and Performance Officer, said: “This innovative programme demonstrates our ongoing commitment to the development of our international and UAE national leaders. It will evolve our executives into better leaders who can embrace change, build effective teams and leverage diversity in our multicultural environment. This will be instrumental in building a strong leadership culture throughout the organisation and equipping our people with the right tools to manage the airline’s future growth.”

The formal training is a fully integrated classroom training programme developed in partnership with NYUAD, which will draw expert faculty from its campuses in Abu Dhabi, New York, and Shanghai. Modules will include leadership presence, innovation, problem solving, team building, as well self-awareness tools and strategic projects.

Participants will also undertake long-term on-the-job strategic projects where they develop innovative business ideas. Executive one-on-one coaching and mentoring sessions will help support each student’s personal development by focusing on their individual areas of strengths and opportunities.

NYUAD Provost, Fabio Piano, said: "This agreement between NYU Abu Dhabi and Etihad Airways illustrates our commitment to fulfilling NYUAD's vision of establishing Abu Dhabi as a leading international hub for attracting, developing and retaining top global talent through transformative executive and professional education programmes. As a top-tier University and research institution, NYUAD is consistently seeking new ways to contribute to growth and innovation within the UAE and beyond. This partnership underscores that commitment, and we look forward to working closely with Etihad Airways on developing new opportunities for collaboration."

The MoU also provides a formal framework for cooperation that will benefit NYUAD students in the areas of student internships, lectures by distinguished international speakers, seminars by Etihad Airways’ highly-skilled Learning and Development team, networking and other advanced opportunities.

About NYU Abu Dhabi

NYU Abu Dhabi is the first comprehensive liberal arts and research campus in the Middle East to be operated abroad by a major American research university. NYU Abu Dhabi has integrated a highly selective undergraduate curriculum across the disciplines with a world center for advanced research and scholarship. The university enables its students in the sciences, engineering, social sciences, humanities, and arts to succeed in an increasingly interdependent world and advance cooperation and progress on humanity’s shared challenges. NYU Abu Dhabi’s high-achieving students have come from over 115 countries and speak over 115 languages. Together, NYU's campuses in New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai form the backbone of a unique global university, giving faculty and students opportunities to experience varied learning environments and immersion in other cultures at one or more of the numerous study-abroad sites NYU maintains on six continents.