EY predicts “tidal wave”

ETIHAD Airways CEO Tony Douglas says there is a “tidal wave of demand waiting to be unleashed,” with the carrier seeing massive booking surges as soon as it reopens bookings to new destinations when they are added to safe travel corridors.

The carrier overnight announced a US$400 million “core operating loss” for the six months to 30 Jun - half the $800m loss figure for the previous corresponding period.

“Every day Etihad Airways is making up for lost ground,” Douglas said.

“Despite the curveball of the Delta variant disrupting the global recovery in air travel, we have continued to ramp up operations and are today in a much better place than this time in 2020.”

He said bookings were up sixfold on some newly reintroduced routes, with the carrier having launched or restarted operations to 10 destinations since the start of 2021, including the historic opening up of flights between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv in Apr.

“We are ready to welcome more guests on board to experience why Etihad is second to none when it comes to ensuring passenger wellbeing,” he added.

Operating costs were slashed by 27%, to US$1.4 billion, supported by reduced capacity, while fixed overheads and finance were down 22%, due to an “ongoing balance sheet de-leveraging” which saw the carrier rebuild its liquidity position to pre-pandemic levels, the EY CEO noted.

While passenger demand had been slower to recover than anticipated, operations were underpinned by a record cargo performance.