Etihad announces new ‘Armani’ amenity kits and pyjamas - you just can’t get them yet
Etihad Airways, famous for burning mountains of money in the mid-2010s before downsizing just prior to the pandemic and recently announcing record profits, has just announced upgrades to their offering in all classes. Let’s take a look.
Author note- I was employed by Etihad Airways UK until late 2023. During my employment, I never commented or posted about Etihad Airways as a conflict-of-interest and tried not to cover direct competitors i.e. Middle Eastern airlines Since leaving the airline and aviation industry career-wise for an unrelated field, I can now cover the airline freely and critically - as well as publish a backlog of reviews.
Acqua Di Parma is out, Armani in
Acqua Di Parma has been the amenity kit partner for Etihad Airways since August 2018. Pandemic withstanding, that’s a long time for amenity kit partnerships - although it came in several iterations during that period. Here’s a shot of the a kit from Acqua Di Parma:
Unsurprisingly, Etihad have dropped Acqua Di Parma a year after introducing Armani/Casa as their partner for bedding and service ware, such as glasses, plates and cutlery. This isn’t much of a surprise particularly as the design of the amenity kit much better matches the colour palette and design of the rest of the Armani offering on Etihad. It’s worth noting that none of the Armani products are produced by Armani but are instead only designed and feature their logo. I would adjust the standard of quality accordingly for all the Armani items aboard Etihad.
The press release mentions how the design of the amenity kits draw ‘inspiration from the rolling sands of the stunning Liwa desert in Abu Dhabi which can be used as packing cubes’. While I doubt many people will think that when looking at them, they do look smart.
In First and The Residence, a unique design has been adopted with a larger folio style kit which is large enough to fit a thirteen-inch laptop. I do appreciate Etihad trying to make these as reusable as possible, as way too many airlines have made kits in the past that are just made for landfill.
New contents from ESPA
If you flew Etihad in November and December, you would have received a special edition 20th Anniversary amenity kit (pictured below) which featured ESPA Skincare products.
I had never heard of ESPA prior to this but the products seem of decent quality with larger size products provided in First and The Residence. However, some may see the move as a downgrade from the more premium Acqua Di Parma brand as well as the omission of any cologne in the kit.
Snuggle up in PJs
While First and The Residence always had ‘loungewear’ or pyjamas, which were extremely comfortable, Business Class lost these several years amongst downsizing cutbacks. This made the Etihad Business Class offering comparatively worse than Qatar Airways, so it is good to see them reintroduce the new Armani designed pyjamas.
However, we won’t see Business Class pyjamas on many flights. Much of the Etihad network consists of sub-eight-hour, mid-haul flights with these new pyjamas only available on flights over nine hours. Frustratingly and in a bid to keep costs down, these won’t be available on all European flights which depart at ungodly hours.
It’s long annoyed me that Etihad doesn't provide slippers on their flights, so much so I bring my own that have been collected from hotels or other airlines (shout out to Finnair!). Hopefully they can at least make these available on request but that does feel unlikely.
Economy Class isn’t forgotten…it’s just less interesting
Small amenity kits will be provided in Economy too with eye masks, ear plugs and hand cream, in a design that forms into a tote bag. Again, I appreciate the effort to make something that would be a disposable into an item that can be reused for shopping in the future.
Final thoughts
It’s good to see some changes in the Etihad product after having a similar amenity kit offering for almost six years. Frustratingly, I’ve recently been on a trip with the airline after the announcement was made last month on eligible ultra long haul flights but the kits and pyjamas are nowhere to be seen. I suspect they are still using up old stock of Acqua Di Parma kits in a comparable manner to how it took several months to introduce the Armani bedding in 2023.
What do you think of the new Etihad amenity kits? Comment down below and be sure to look out for my written and video reviews of the airline’s premium cabin in the coming months.
