Etihad Airways blames rising fuel prices, costly investments as it stays in the red | Reuters

Etihad Airways blames rising fuel prices, costly investments as it stays in the red | Reuters:

"Etihad Airways reported on Thursday a second consecutive annual loss, blaming rising fuel prices, the cost of its ambitious turnaround plan and lost business due to the collapse of Air Berlin and problems at Alitalia.

United Arab Emirates-based Etihad has been overhauling its business since it made a near $2 billion loss in 2016, by replacing its top executive, dropping unprofitable routes and retiring costly aircraft among other measures.

The state-owned carrier, which competes with Emirates among others, said its losses narrowed to $1.52 billion in 2017 as it cut costs by 7.3 percent and its revenue rose by 1.9 percent to $6.1 billion. Passenger numbers, however, were flat at 18.6 million and it filled an average of 78.5 percent of its seats, also little changed from 2016. "



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