Abu Dhabi’s Etihad reports $1.7bn loss for 2020, passenger traffic down 76%

Abu Dhabi’s Etihad reports $1.7bn loss for 2020, passenger traffic down 76%

UAE national carrier Etihad Airways said that it carried 4.2 million passengers in 2020, down 76 per cent from 17.5 million passengers it flew in 2019.

More than 80 per cent of the total passengers carried in 2020 were flown during the first three months of the year, the airline said which demonstrates the "precipitous drop in demand as the global crisis deepened over the course of the year.“

Total passenger capacity was reduced by 64 per cent in 2020 to 37.5 billion Available Seat Kilometres (ASKs), down from 104 billion in 2019, with the seat load factor declining to 52.9 per cent, 25.8 percentage points lower compared to 2019.

The airline reported $1.2bn in passenger revenues in 2020, down by 74 per cent from $4.8bn the previous year.

Operating costs decreased by 39 per cent year-on-year, from $5.4bn in 2019 to $3.3bn in 2020, which the airline attributed to "a combination of reduced capacity and volume-related expenses, as well as a focus on cost containment initiatives.“

The carrier's overheads reduced by 25 per cent to $0.8bn, despite their fixed nature, owing to cash and liquidity management initiatives during the crisis, while the finance cost reduced by 23 per cent through an ongoing focus