Etihad Airways reported a record profit for the first half of this year despite the high oil price and the impact of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 on the start of the year.
It was Etihad’s first profitable period since 2015.
The Abu Dhabi-based carrier reported a ‘core’ operating profit of $296 million – marking a substantial turnaround from a first-half loss of $392 million last year.
Etihad was loss-making going into the pandemic, having reported substantial losses every year since 2015 – $802 million for 2019, $1.28 billion in 2018, $1.52 billion in 2017 and $1.87 billion in 2016.
However, the losses were progressively falling until the pandemic in line with a five-year transformation plan launched in 2017.
Etihad’s losses increased again to $1.7 billion in the first pandemic year of 2020 before improving to $476 million in 2021.
Group chief executive Tony Douglas said: “Etihad is emerging from the pandemic stronger than ever thanks to our transformation programme.
“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.”
Etihad carried just over four million passengers in the six months, with flights on average 75% full.
Passenger revenues tripled year on year to $1.25 billion as countries relaxed Covid-related travel restrictions.
The carrier’s loyalty programme Etihad Guest saw record new members in June, increasing to 7.95 million, and flight redemptions rose 15% year on year over the six months to more than 737,000.
Etihad chief financial officer Adam Boukadida said: “Our transformation programme has made Etihad substantially more resilient and efficient. We are extremely proud of our return to profitability.
“In the first half, we managed to further reduce our fixed overhead and finance costs by $50 million [and] reduce the level of debt on our balance sheet.
“While ramping up our operations and recording a four-fold increase in passenger volumes, our operating costs only rose by 26% despite a 46% increase in capacity.
“Our overall operating profit of $296 million is testament to the strength of our business model and the improvements we have made to our underlying financial performance.”
Etihad is privately owned by the state of Abu Dhabi and does not publish full results in line with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) rules. ‘Core’ operating results exclude some expenses and non-recurring items.