Etihad sees travel demand improvement in 2H 2021

Abu Dhabi's national airline Etihad Airways expects flights demand to rebound in the next half of this 12 months, as vaccines roll out and travel around restrictions ease. Nonetheless it does not now expect a full recovery before 2024, twelve months later than it predicted previous month.

Etihad's senior vice president for global revenue and cargo Martin Drew explained that the airline is looking at a recovery in demand on some routes, namely to and from Pakistan and Bangladesh.

"When the restrictions learn to get lifted, what we will have can be that the segments which will come back initially will surely be the VFR [viewing friends and/or relatives] traffic and in addition leisure," Drew said. "Organization travel will probably take some period to return.""

The airline resumed passenger flights to the Seychelles, Moscow and Casablanca this month, and plans to launch flights to Tel Aviv on 6 April.

Jet petrol demand and passenger figures found in the UAE have already been inching up since a good collapse in the second quarter of this past year. The UAE's Standard Civil Aviation Authority commenced suspending flights from preliminary coronavirus hotspots like China and Iran as soon as the initial week of February, and imposed a complete suspension of all inbound and outbound passenger flights from 25 March.

While Dubai began to ease restrictions in late June before a full reopening on 7 July, Abu Dhabi was slower to start its borders, opting and then resume flights to some select international destinations on 24 December. Etihad Airways continues to be gradually rebuilding its network.

Etihad's air passenger traffic fell by 76laptop or computer to 4.2mn this past year, from 17.5mn found in 2019. Visitors at the world's most significant and busiest hub, Dubai Airport terminal, fell by 70pc last year in comparison to 2019 levels therefore of travel restrictions.

Jet fuel demand found in the country has recovered slowly, with travelling restrictions in place globally to support the spread of Covid-19 variants. Demand is normally unlikely to fully return to pre-pandemic amounts before 2023, relating to market participants.