Business Recorder

Etihad Airways orders widebody planes, sees return to pre-war capacity in June

RIO DE JANEIRO: Etihad Airways is ordering more widebody ​planes as the Middle East ‌carrier expects to be flying about 8% more than a year ago ​by June 15, CEO Antonoaldo ​Neves said in an interview. He ⁠said on the sidelines of ​a global gathering of airline CEOs ​in Brazil on Saturday that the Abu Dhabi carrier is buying widebody planes ​in the double digits, declining ​to specify further. Etihad is restoring flights after ‌making ⁠cuts in March as the US-Israeli war on Iran turned regional, raising fuel prices, Neves said. He said ​Etihad does ​not ⁠plan to trim costs by cutting flights at ​the moment. “The biggest cost we ​have ⁠is an empty plane,” he said. “So the way I cut ⁠cost ​is I don’t have ​empty planes.”