Etihad to raise flights to half of pre-Covid levels in Sept
dubai — Etihad Airways on Thursday said it aims to increase worldwide flights to half its pre-Covid levels by September as it reported a 58 per cent drop in passengers during the first half of 2020, heavily impacted by the global coronavirus pandemic.
The Abu Dhabi-based national carrier said it flew 3.5 million passengers in the first half as a result of the closure of international borders and the suspension of flights to and from the UAE from March 24.
In a statement, the airline said despite a record first-quarter performance showing a 34 per cent year-on-year improvement in core operating profit, its core operating loss in the first six months surged by $172 million to $758 million year-on-year, driven by a 38 per cent drop in revenues, which stood at $1.7 billion, down from $2.7 billion a year ago, as a result of the Covid-19 fallout.
“This was partially offset by a 27 per cent reduction in direct operating costs to $1.9 billion against $2.7 billion for the same 2019 period, and a 21 per cent reduction in general and administrative expenses to $0.40 billion, both driven by management cost containment initiatives and reduced operations. Available seat kilometres declined by 53 per cent to 23.69 billion from 50.35 billion in the first half of 2019,” the airline said.
Tony Douglas, group CEO of Etihad Aviation Group, said the carrier faced “a set of enormous and unpredictable challenges” in the first six months of the year. “We started 2020 strong, and recorded encouraging results as part of our continuing transformation programme. This left us in a relatively robust position when Covid-19 hit, allowing us to act with agility, and to mobilise all available resources as the crisis deepened, taking major steps to reduce costs through a wide-reaching series of measures.”
He said the airline remained optimistic
that as international borders re-open, it will increase flying and carry more guests securely and with greater peace of mind while revising its outlook for the rest of 2020 based on current realities.
“By September, we aim to increase our worldwide flights to half our preCovis-19 capacity. Looking forward, we rest assured that the UAE is leading the way in the research for a vaccine against Covid-19.”
Douglas said due to the severity of the situation facing the industry, the airline has been forced to redesign the organisation around the need to make redundancies from its workforce across several areas of the business to ensure future continuity. “Etihad, like all major airlines, has had no choice but to embrace the ambiguity of the situation it has been thrown into, and with much sadness, we have had to make some extremely difficult decisions to reduce the size of the workforce by several thousands.”
Adam Boukadida, chief financial officer of Etihad Aviation Group, said the airline managed to maintain a satisfactory level of liquidity despite a major drop in revenues, while continuing to raise new liquidity facilities supported by local and international financial institutions. “This was supported by maintaining an ‘A with a stable outlook’ Fitch rating in April, at the height of the pandemic. Etihad was one of a small number of airlines to maintain its preCovid-19 credit rating,” he added.
Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at StrategicAero Research, said transforming oneself from a loss position to profitability becomes even harder for all airlines during these turbulent times.
“Battered by the impact of the pandemic, it is not a surprise to see Etihad’s losses rise in the first half. With weaker load factors and a colossal drop in revenue due to international travel restrictions and lockdowns in key markets across Europe, Asia and the US, Etihad has still managed to suppress and drive down some of its operating costs,” he said.
We started 2020 strong, and recorded encouraging results as part of our continuing transformation programme. This left us in a relatively robust position when Covid-19 hit Tony Douglas, Group CEO of Etihad Aviation Group