Abu Dhabi airline restructuring going according to plan

Lola Evans
09 Oct 2019, 17:31 GMT+10

Etihad Airways, the Abu-Dhabi owned and operated airline, is expecting to return to profitability by 2023.
The airline, which services a high volume of routes from the UAE capital, has fallen on hard times due to an aborted takeover of Alitalia.
The once-profitable airlinbe has been hampered by significant write-downs.

ABU DHABI, UAE - Etihad Airways, the Abu-Dhabi owned and operated airline, is expecting to return to profitability by 2023.

The airline, which services a high volume of routes from the UAE capital, has fallen on hard times due to an aborted takeover of Alitalia.

The once-profitable airlinbe has been hampered by significant write-downs. It has embarked on a 5-yeat turnaround strategy and belives it is on track to turn the corner by the end of the five years.

"The five-year plan will make Etihad a good, sustainable company. By 2023, we will have very good news," Robin Kamark, Chief Commercial Officer of the airline told a press conference on Tuesday.

The CCO described the plan as "comprehensive" and "yielding results."

"Five years is enough, if nothing geo-political happens or macro events that we haven't foreseen," Kamark said.

Etihad has dropped unprofitable routes, including Perth, Tehran, Dallas/Fort Worth and Ho Chi Minh City, and cut back on overheads. It has battled super high fuel prices, which last yera rose 31%.

"What we anticipated in the plan is a cautious steady growth, not sort of extraordinary growth," the official said.

"We also see that the international business market and the GDP around the world is not growing and it will be a tough economy next year and [th year after. We've put that into plans and so far we are delivering what we have planned in the restructuring."