Etihad Airways sees strong demand, higher passenger capacity despite Iran war, CEO says

DUBAI, Sept 14 (Reuters) – Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways said on Monday that its passenger-carrying capacity is running above year-earlier levels as Gulf carriers rebound from disruption caused by the Iran war, with strong demand expected heading into the winter travel season, its chief executive told Reuters.

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“We are back on track,” CEO Antonoaldo Neves said in an interview, noting that current Available Seat Kilometres – the industry’s standard measure of passenger-carrying capacity – was currently 15 to 17% higher than a year ago.

“Flights are full, full, full,” he said, adding that load factor, which measures how well an airline is filling available seats, was at 92% in August while the airline is targeting an 87% plus load factor for the remainder of the year.

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The Iran war affected travel earlier this year, pushing fuel prices higher and disrupting flights in the Middle East and beyond. Middle Eastern carriers, some of the world’s biggest, have seen their networks upended by the conflict, but have gradually resumed their activity.

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(Reporting by Federico Maccioni, Editing by Louise Heavens)

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