Etihad Airways reported on Thursday a half-year core loss of $758 million, despite a record first quarter 34 percent year-over-year improvement. Revenues for the first six months of the year declined 38 percent to $1.7 billion.
Today (August 6, 2020) Etihad Airways announced their first-half (H1) 2020 financial results with a core operating loss of $758 million versus a loss of $586 million for H1 2019. Year-over-year revenues declined 38 percent to $1.7 billion, compared to $2.7 billion during the same period last year. During H1, the carrier reduced operating expenses by 27 percent to $1.9 billion and general and administrative expenses by 21 percent to $400 million. Capacity - measured in available seat kilometers (ASK) was reduced 53 percent to 23.69 billion compared to 50.35 billion during H1 2019. Cargo revenues for the first half of 2020 improved 37 percent to $490 million versus the same period last year with 254,345 tons of cargo carried. In Thursday’s announcement, Etihad Airways Group’s Chief Executive Officer, Tony Douglas said,
“Etihad 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 mobilize all available resources as the crisis deepened, taking major steps to reduce costs through a wide-reaching series of measures. While we revised our outlook for the rest of 2020 based on current realities, we remain optimistic that as international borders reopen, we will increase our flying and carry more guests securely and with greater peace of mind, supported by the Etihad Wellness program and our new Wellness Ambassadors. By September, we aim to increase our worldwide flights to half of our pre-COVID-19 capacity. Looking forward, we rest assured that the UAE is leading the way in the research for a vaccine against COVID-19. The incredible efforts Abu Dhabi is making to ensure the safety and security of its residents and visitors will soon enable us to welcome the world back to our amazing home. This commitment was successfully highlighted by the recent hosting of major UFC events in the capital.”
While Etihad Airways showed a 34 percent year-over-year improvement in their first quarter operating results, like all carriers, the second quarter and H1 results were impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic. During Q2, 70 percent of the carrier’s fleet was grounded, resulting in a 99 percent decrease in passenger traffic and a 95 percent decline in ASK versus Q2 2019. Seat load factor for the second quarter was 16 percent and largely driven by the operation of repatriation flights and limited transfer services via Abu Dhabi in early June.
In the second quarter, Etihad operated up to 40 of 97 passenger aircraft in their fleet including Boeing 787 Dreamliners, 777-300ERs and Airbus A320 Family aircraft as belly-hold cargo freighters. The additional cargo capacity complemented the carrier’s dedicated fleet of six Boeing 777-200F freighters. For the period between March 25th and June 15, 2020, the carrier operated over 640 repatriation flights to 45 network and off-network destinations. During August and September, Etihad Airways plans on offering service to 61 worldwide destinations via their Abu Dhabi hub, restoring capacity to around 50 percent of the pre-pandemic level.
Source: Etihad Airways
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