Etihad CEO sees summer as key to 2010 break even

UPBEAT MESSAGE: Etihad CEO James Hogan. (Getty Images)

Etihad Airways chief executive James Hogan said on Tuesday the summer months will have a bearing on whether the airline can break-even in 2010.

When speaking exclusively to Arabian Business at the Paris Airshow, Hogan said: “We have always said profitability is in 2010, so let’s see how the summer goes; at this stage it is month by month and quarter by quarter.

“In the first half of the year there is huge discounting worldwide and people are booking later, so they are looking for deals.”

Hogan was talking on the sidelines of a press conference announcing Etihad’s $14bn engine order, thought to be the biggest deal at the air show.

The Abu Dhabi airline has ordered engines for 35 Boeing 787s, 10 Airbus A380s and 20 narrow-body Airbus A320s. It is also expecting to receive engines for A350s and 777s.

When announcing the deal, Hogan said measured and careful expansion was the strategy for an airline that he described as one of the world’s fastest growing carriers.

He added the carrier’s engine and aircraft orders, where Etihad signed a deal for 100 aircraft at the Farnborough Airshow last year, were long term with deliveries spread across several years.

“We have placed the aircraft orders up to 2020 because that gives us the opportunity when aircraft come over the years for my network and planning team to look at how we connect over the hub, negotiate the flight slots and how we anticipate opening up new routes,” he said.

Hogan also backed recent comments made by IATA chief Giovanni Bisignani for governments to lift restrictions on airline slots and service frequency.

He said: “Canada is slot constrained and we operate three times a week, but we would operate daily if we could.

"We’re looking at markets like Iran in the future so we will look at the growth and I believe as Giovanni Bisignani said open skies and cross ownership has to come. The airline model has to change over the next five to six years.”

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