Etihad announced another loss-making year on March 14. It ended 2018 at $-1.28bln, which is a slight improvement on the $1.52bln loss the previous year.
The second year of its transformation program saw its core operating performance improve by 15 percent, 7 percent more than expected. But as its main competitor Emirates, Etihad was hit by challenging market conditions within the UAE and higher fuel costs. Revenues were down from $6.0bln to $5.86bln. Passenger revenues were identical at $5bln, although pax numbers were down from 18.6mln to 17.8mln. Seat factor was down to 76.4 percent from 78.5.
Cargo revenues were also lower from $877mln to $827mln.
Etihad was able to reduce unit costs by 3 percent or $416mln to $6.9bln, but this only partly compensated for the increase of 31 percent in fuel costs. The airline reduced capacity by 4 percent from 115 to 106 aircraft). Staff and administration costs were also lower after reductions.
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Start My Test Flight →Group CEO Tony Douglas didn’t provide any 2019 guidance, but the third year of its transformation program sees a further update to Etihad’s long-term strategy. Etihad has revised its fleet plans by cancelling 40 Airbus A350-900s, while confirming it will take delivery of 5 -1000s, 26 A321neo’s and 6 Boeing 777-9s.
Etihad Airbus A380 in Abu Dhabi. (Richard Schuurman)
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