Etihad Airways hopes to break even in 2011
Unlisted Etihad Airways stated it hopes to break even in 2011, with the carrier benefiting from its customer service strategy. CEO James Hogan added that the carrier has seen traffic recover in most regions in the wake of the recession. Mr Hogan said the carrier also benefits from having few legacy issues to deal with.
Middle East shares remained relatively stable with Air Arabia (-0.3%) down while Jazeera stayed steady and Royal Jordanian's shares slightly rose to +1.3%.
1Time Holdings (+1.8%), parent of 1time Airlines, reported the following financial highlights for the six months ended 30-Jun-2010:
- Revenue: 88.8 million, +5.7% year-on-year;
- 1time Airline: USD77.4 million, +11%;
- Operating costs: USD80.8 million, +8.9%;
- Fuel: +12%;
- Airport charges: +40%;
- Profit (loss): USD2.0 million, -71%;
- Safair Technical: (USD1.1 million), compared with a profit of USD355,860 in p-c-p;
- Passenger numbers: +4%;
- Load factor: 82%, +2 ppts.
- *Based on the conversion rate at USD1 = ZAR7.30625
African shares were a mixed bag on Friday (27-Aug-2010) with Kenya Airways (-1%) down while Lonrho (+4.6%) shares gained.
Selected African and Middle Eastern airlines share price movements (% change): 27-Aug-2010