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

Etihad Airways reported 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 $2b 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 $1.52b in 2017 as it cut costs by 7.3% and its revenue rose by 1.9% to $6.1b. Passenger numbers, however, were flat at 18.6m and it filled an average of 78.5% of its seats, also little changed from 2016. “These are solid first steps in an ongoing journey to transform this business into one that is positioned for financially sustainable growth over the long term,” Etihad’s Group CE Tony Douglas said.<br/>