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Etihad posts 2016 loss of US$1.87b, impacted by weak cargo market

Etihad has reported a full-year 2016 loss of US$1.87 billion, as well as impairments of $1.9 billion, including a $1.06 billion charge on aircraft as it phased out some models early.

The carrier also had an $808 million charge on some assets, as well as financial exposure to struggling equity partners, mainly Alitalia and airberlin, reported London's Loadstar.

Despite cargo volume in 2016 rising 0.8 per cent to 595,519 tonnes, freight revenue declined by ten per cent to $900 million.

It said in a statement: "A slowdown in the cargo market put increased pressure on cargo revenues and yields."

There have been question marks over the carrier's performance this year, as it is facing tough competition in the region. In April volumes at Abu Dhabi airport - in contrast to elsewhere in the world, which mainly saw healthy growth - fell 14.4 per cent.

However, senior vice president David Kerr, explained to The Loadstar: "In April, adverse weather in Abu Dhabi severely impacted our operations. We proactively managed this by reducing capacity in and out of the hub to minimise delays in cargo processing during the busy Easter period.

"Our May volumes were back up to last year's levels, which was expected given we are not growing capacity. Additionally, we are being very prudent in our fleet and network capacity management, which is perhaps less reflective of current volume trends, but still driven by underlying weakness in value.

"Yield improvement has allowed us to make more positive adjustments in recent weeks."