Etihad Airways has unveiled its H1 2022 results, where it achieved a record breaking profit of USD 296 million. It also carried over 4 million passengers in the period, sharp jump from just about 980,000 in same period last year.

UAE’s second flag carrier Etihad Airways reports record-breaking core operating profit of USD 296 million compared to same period last year when the carrier received a loss of USD 392 million. The airline says that the record profits came despite a huge increase in fuel costs that have risen by almost 60 pc in comparison to the same period last year.

Etihad says it carried 4.02 million passengers, a sharp jump of well over 3 million more than the 980,000 passengers carried in the first half of 2021. Etihad Airlines says it has recorded an average seat load factor of 75 pc. It says its passenger load factor has risen by 21.9 pc over the comparative period last year. The growth has come especially since February as Abu Dhabi further relaxed pandemic-related restrictions.

Network capacity came in at 24 billion Available Seat Kilometres (ASK) for H1 2022, growing by 46 pc compared to last year’s 16.4 billion, as the airline connected Abu Dhabi to 71 passenger and cargo destinations across 45 countries. The first half of the year also saw Etihad launch five summer services, including new seasonal routes to Heraklion on the island of Crete and the French city of Nice.

“Thanks to our transformation programme, Etihad is emerging from the pandemic stronger than ever, with a world-class fleet, an unmatched customer proposition and sustainability woven into every fibre of our business,” says Tony Douglas, Group Chief Executive Officer.

“As air travel came roaring back in 2022, Etihad was there to reconnect our customers with their loved ones and take them on their long-awaited vacations, carrying over 4 million passengers to and from our beautiful home of Abu Dhabi,” Douglas adds.

Douglas says that sustainability continued to be a priority area for Etihad as the company entered fuel-efficient carrier A350-1000s into service and continued the company’s industry-leading decarbonisation efforts, leading to Etihad being recently named Environmental Airline of the Year. Douglas emphasises on how, the results would not have been possible without the commitment of the entire Etihad family and how their focus now is on continuing this momentum into the second half of the year.

Financial and loyalty related highlights

Etihad’s passenger revenues tripled in the first six months of the year, climbing to USD 1.25 billion, up from USD 320 million last year as more business and leisure travellers returned to the air. This was supported by more countries across Etihad’s network relaxing their Covid-related travel restrictions.

Cargo operations continued to deliver exceptional results with revenues of USD 802 million in the first half of 2022, representing an increase of 6 pc on the same period last year. Revenues remained strong despite the increase in passenger volumes limiting belly-hold capacity, leading to a 19 pc reduction in freight carried which amounted to 295,020 tonnes.

The airline says that as a result of its constant focus on cost containment, fixed overhead and finance costs decreased by 9 pc and 13 pc respectively.

During the month of June, Etihad Guest, the airline’s award-winning loyalty programme, delivered a record of new member acquisitions, increasing to 7.95 million members globally. Flight redemptions increased 15 pc in H1 2022 compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019, with over 737,000 flights taken, and member engagement levels translated into record card spends across the programme’s portfolio of UAE banks, supported by a new partnership with the Islamic banking company, Emirates NBD.

“Our transformation programme has made Etihad substantially more resilient and efficient, and we are extremely proud of our return to profitability in the first half of 2022. In the first half, we managed to further reduce our fixed overhead and finance costs by USD 50 million compared to H1 2021, reduce the level of debt on our balance sheet, and improve our EBITDA by more than USD 600 million,” says Adam Boukadida, Chief Financial Officer.

Boukadida adds that while ramping up the company’s operations and recording a four-fold increase in passenger volumes, the carrier kept a tight hold on its cost base. As a result, the carrier’s operating costs only rose by 26 pc despite a 46 pc increase in deployed capacity.

“Our overall operating profit of USD 296 million is testament to the strength of our business model at Etihad and the improvements we have made to our underlying financial performance over the years,” says Boukadida.