Charter flights to improve Etihad Airways' business found in 2021

Etihad Airways expects its charter flights segment to improve business and make it adapt to market circumstances if Covid-19 flare-ups all over the world stifle a recovery popular for scheduled solutions this year.

With reduced scheduled flights and extreme constraints on air cargo potential globally this past year, more customers considered charter jets to move persons and goods - a style that is more likely to continue in 2021, Etihad Airways' executives said.

"The main thing in our mind is to make certain that we're well-positioned to adapt to whatever the market circumstances will be and that whilst demand for scheduled services remains less than historical amounts, we expect to see incredibly robust demand for chartered and particular flights and we'll be very well positioned to take good thing about that," Alex Featherstone, vice president of network planning and alliances at Etihad Airways, told The National. "We're incredibly keen to ensure this sort of flying builds highly and that it is a significant contributor to our bottom-line."

However, this depends upon the extent of restoration in planned flights in 2021 and above, which might "keep a lid" about demand for private charters, he said.

In January, non-public flights globally built up 18 per cent of total air traffic and were down by only 9 per cent compared to the same month last year, according to consulting company WingX Progress. The drop is less steep weighed against scheduled airlines' functions, where passenger site visitors fell 50 % for the initial month of the year as the pandemic battered flights demand.

The UAE, home of Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, has seen 75 % increase in business jet motions in January. Large jets flew 38 % of most activity, with the Challenger 600 jet moves on par with January last year, the Global Exhibit aircraft flying 30 % much less and the Embraer Legacy 50 % more active than this past year, WingX explained in a February 3 report.

Etihad's charter unit offers leisure and organization travellers choices for passenger, cargo-only and combined freight and passenger flights. These are operated with jets ranging from Airbus A320 narrowbodies to Boeing 777s for long-haul journeys.

"We saw in 2020 that with limited scheduled service, there were customers looking for different alternatives that translated into chartered customised flights, and we feel that will be the circumstance in 2021 aswell," Mr Featherstone said.

Etihad Airways received about 100 inquiries for charter services in the last month through a dedicated webpage, which it setup in December. Several firmed up into flight operations or contracts for foreseeable future flights, he explained, declining to talk about specific figures.

Inquiries came from private persons and groups wanting to charter flights to leisure destinations.

"We've flown multiple missions from the UAE to the Maldives," Mr Featherstone explained. "We also acquired inquiries from sporting clubs and from corporates seeking to move a particular amount of people."

While prices rely upon customer requirements and extra requests, a roundtrip from the UAE to Maldives on an A320 charter flight may cost approximately $90,000 to $100,000, Etihad said.

Asked how Etihad positions itself in the market with different established and specialised non-public jet operators, Mr Featherstone explained the airline is focused on scheduled flights but is wanting to boost chartered services to maximise its fleet utilisation.

"The major difference for all of us is that this isn't our core business nonetheless it is an important and developing add-on to our core business," Mr Featherstone explained. "Because our core organization is scheduled flying, we've a number of different aircraft types open to deploy which might be different from a few of the aircraft types these private jet operators have at their disposal."

The charter services will also help the airline re-deploy a few of the jets which were idled by the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Because we don't possess these aircraft just sitting down there for charter procedures, we've the luxury of experiencing availability from our scheduled passenger fleet so we are able to make use of aircraft that are not operating or have gaps in the routine and allocate them away, which sometimes means we can become more affordable than traditional operators."

On the cargo side, decreased freighter capacity and congestion in transport lanes are driving demand for air cargo companies, including on charter flights, Martin Drew, senior vice president of revenue and cargo at Etihad Aviation Group, said.

"It's a little of an ideal storm resulting in huge constraints with regards to capacity that means the only choice is to get started on chartering aircraft since there is not enough scheduled capability," Mr Drew said.

Global private plane travel thrived through the Covid-19 pandemic since it allowed well-heeled travellers to avoid industrial flights and minimised the chance of contact on crowded airports.

However, the stricter travel regulations imposed by governments in response to the brand new virus mutations have dented demand for private jet travel and leisure in January, according to WingX Advance.

"Evidently demand has been suppressed by travel restrictions, with the relatively unfettered US market seeing most resilient demand, and Florida continuing to find record activity," the survey said. "The previous few months’ busy pre-owned business aircraft transactions market shows that once lockdowns are lifted more widely, there may be pent-up demand from plenty of new aircraft owners."