·
Etihad Airways carries 2.4 million passengers in the first three months
of 2012
·
Revenue jumps 28 per cent to US$989 million, the best Q1 result in the
airline’s history
·
Seat factor hits record high
·
Announces plans to launch flights to South America
·
Vietnam to be added to the carrier’s global network
·
Significant increase in regional services planned
Etihad
Airways continued its industry-leading growth in the first quarter of 2012,
with a 28 per cent rise in revenue to US$ 989 million over the corresponding
period in 2011 and passenger numbers soaring by 500,000 to 2.4 million.
Etihad Airways
President and Chief Executive Officer, James Hogan, said: “We met all our
revenue targets and budget estimates in the first quarter, despite the
challenging economic conditions confronting the international community.
“Despite the tough
economic times we believe our business model of organic network growth combined
with codeshare partnerships and strategic equity investments will enable us to
continue to prosper and ensure sustainable profitability.”
The record results
were announced as Mr Hogan unveiled plans for a significant expansion of the
airline’s global network over the next 18 months.
These included a
daily service to Etihad Airways’ first South America destination and a new
service to Vietnam.
Mr Hogan said the
South American flights would begin mid next year with details of the first
destination now being finalised.
“This a logical
next step for us and will mark the sixth continent we serve and our coming of
age as a truly global airline,” he said.
Etihad Airways
also planned to replicate the success of its European expansion by introducing
additional frequencies to a range of other destinations in Asia and Australia.
Mr. Hogan said:
“We continue to outperform much of the global airline industry, with spectacular
growth in revenue, the number of passengers flown and freight carried.
“Our expanded
network through organic growth and partnerships has reached a critical mass
that is now powering our business forward.
“Our seat factor
hit a record high but yields, particularly in the premium cabins, remain a
challenge.”
Already in the
first quarter of 2012 Etihad Airways has announced the launch of non-stop daily
flights to Washington, D.C., begun flights to Tripoli, Shanghai and Nairobi,
and will soon start services to Basra and Lagos, as well as increase flight
frequencies to Düsseldorf, Bangkok, Cairo, Kuwait, and Dammam. Extra capacity will also be added to
London Heathrow and Kuala Lumpur. The national airline of the United Arab
Emirates now has a worldwide network that stretches across 84 cities in 54
countries.
Etihad Airways
will take delivery of seven new aircraft in 2012 – three Airbus A320s and four
Boeing B777s, with the first three-class B777-300ER deployed on the London
route from July. The carrier’s fleet will have grown to 71 aircraft by year’s
end.
The airline said
revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) rose during the first quarter by 26.6 per
cent to 10.9 billion, thanks to growth in available seat kilometers (ASKs)
through new routes, additional frequencies, increased seat capacity and
strengthening load factors. Seat factor
jumped by 3.8 percentage points to 76.5 per cent, the highest first quarter
level in the airline’s history.
Mr. Hogan
highlighted the importance of Etihad’s partnership strategy in boosting
passenger numbers in the first three months of the year.
“We are flying
with fuller planes across the network and our codeshare partnerships played a
major role in this growth, accounting for 18 per cent of our revenues in the
quarter.”
Recently Etihad Airways announced China Eastern
Airlines had become its 37th partner airline with the signing of a
Memorandum of Understanding ( MoU) that encompasses joint route and schedule coordination,
codesharing between the UAE and China and, in time, on each other's networks.
“Our equity
investments, in airberlin and Air Seychelles, are already bearing fruit and we
are starting to see both revenue and cost benefits from synergies with each
carrier.”
Etihad
Airways and airberlin will save millions of dollars integrating their Boeing
787 Dreamliner programs and the UAE flag carrier is also extending the benefits
of its billion dollar deal with
travel technology provider Sabre Airline Solutions to airberlin.
In January Etihad Airways took a 40 per cent
stake in Air Seychelles enabling it to renew its fleet and take advantage of
Etihad Airways’ extensive global route network, maximise efficiencies and boost
sales opportunities
Mr. Hogan said
Etihad Airways continued to focus on maintaining profitability, despite
challenging market conditions. Escalating fuel costs, in particular, had a
major impact on the aviation sector during the quarter.
In March, Etihad
Airways increased the fuel surcharge on its European flights to offset the
costs being imposed on the airline by the European Union (EU) Emissions Trading
Scheme (ETS).
The International
Air Transport Association (IATA) said recently that rising oil prices and
Europe’s sovereign debt crisis were hanging over the airline industry’s
fortunes.
Etihad Airways
beat its 2011 break even target last year when it posted a net profit of US$14
million.
Mr Hogan added:
“We have capitalised on more freighter flights into Central Asia and Libya
early in the year and made better use of the bellyhold capacity of our newer
passenger routes, such as Düsseldorf, Shanghai, Chengdu and Tripoli.
“On the strength
of our success, two new freighters were ordered in the first quarter for
delivery in 2013 and 2014.
“We also continue to leverage our new
corporate partnerships with Air Seychelles and airberlin by putting our
networks together to offer more choice to cargo customers.
Mr. Hogan said
sensible investments would continue in all areas of the business.
Key indicators
|
Q1 2012
|
Q1 2011
|
Variance
|
Passenger revenue
|
US$ 763m
|
US$ 608m
|
25.4%
|
Cargo revenue
|
US$ 159m
|
US$ 142m
|
12.2%
|
Total revenue
|
US$ 989
|
US$ 770m
|
28.5%
|
Passengers
|
2.36m
|
1.85m
|
27.4%
|
Revenue passenger
kilometres
|
10.91m
|
8.62m
|
26%
|
Seat Factor
|
76.5%
|
72.7%
|
3.8points
|
Aircraft
|
67
|
57
|
10
|
 |
Etihad Airways President and
Chief Executive Officer James Hogan and China Eastern Airlines Chairman Liu Shaoyong
|
Etihad Airways’ inaugural passenger flight to
Kenya has touched down at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO) in
Nairobi. The
new daily, two-class A320 service is the airline’s first passenger service to
East Africa and a critically important step in expanding its presence in
Africa.
The airline will also reach into West Africa with the
introduction of flights to Nigeria in July, 2012. Etihad Airways commenced
operations to the Seychelles in November, 2011, and Libya in January of this
year, building on existing services to Egypt, South Africa, Morocco and Sudan
