July 2021 was the best month for Gulf carrier Etihad Airways since the start of the pandemic, its chief executive said on September 8, 2021. 

“July for us was our best month in about a year and a half,” Tony Douglas told an online event hosted by CAPA-Centre for Aviation. He said load factors in July 2021 were up to just over 40%, compared with 25% previously.

Douglas said the airline, based in Abu Dhabi, had seen a boost from vaccinations and easing travel restrictions. 

When countries were moved to Abu Dhabi’s green list for travel, ticket sales for those destinations would go up by between 3% and 600%, the chief executive said.

“What that signals is the absolute latent demand,” Douglas said.

Before the pandemic, Etihad carried about 17 million passengers a year. In the first half of 2021, that was cut to just 1 million, Douglas said.

 

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