Etihad Airways — Flights, Punctuality & Cancellations in 2021
After looking at Emirates, Qatar Airways, and Saudi Arabian Airlines, we continue the Middle East airline analysis with Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways. Once again we took a deep dive into Ethiad’s flight performance in 2021: We checked flight rankings, punctuality reports, and cancellation rates. Moreover, we benchmarked Etihad’s flight performance against regional and global averages. Here’s what’s contained in detail:
Flight Analysis
Monthly Flight Overview
Global & Europen Ranking By Number of Flights
Pre-COVID Benchmark
Flight Punctuality
Monthly Punctuality Overview
Global & European Ranking By Punctuality
Flight Cancellations
Monthly Cancellation Overview
Global & European Ranking By Cancellation Rate
Etihad Airways — Flight Analysis
We kick off the analysis with details about Ethiad Airways flights from February to June 2021. Then, we also provide information on the carrier’s share in EMEA traffic on top of the overall numbers. Moreover, we compare the airline’s ranking to other EMEA and global airlines. Finally, and as the icing on the cake, we set Etihad’s flight performance in 2021 into relation to pre-COVID results from 2019. So let’s dive into the data!
Monthly Flight Overview
Etihad’s performance in terms of flight numbers is pretty similar to Emirates — however on a smaller level. Ethiad had started the year on a relatively low level and wasn’t able to increase the number of flights considerably. On the contrary, the amount flights from February to June was rather static. The Abu Dhabi-based carrier maintained the number of flight between 2,300 and 2,700. Moreover, even in June where most airlines witnessed a considerable pump, Ethiad had to reduce its number of flights by another 4.8%
| Month | No. Flights | vs. prev. Month |
|---|---|---|
| February | 2,311 | |
| March | 2,602 | 12.5%  |
| April | 2,699 | 3.7% |
| May | 2,666 | 1.3%  |
| June | 2,539 | 4.8% |
| Avg. ’21 | 2,563 |
In line with the low level and non-existent growth, Etihad’s share concerning the overall EMEA traffic had started low and continued to decrease. In June, Etihad accounted for only 0.5% of the EMEA flights.
Global & European Ranking By Number of Flights
From February to June, Etihad’s ranking constantly decreased. This is mainly due the fact that many airlines increased their number of flights during the observed period.
| Month | Domestic Rank | EMEA Rank | Global Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| February | 3 | 25 | 76 |
| March | 3 | 26 | 82 |
| April | 4 | 29 | 85 |
| May | 3 | 33 | 88 |
| June | 3 | 43 | 99 |
| Average ’21 | 3 | 31 | 86 |
Pre-COVID Benchmark
Again similar to Emirates, Etihad reported devastating numbers compared to a pre-pandemic level. On average, Etihad operated only 34% of the flights it did in pre-COVID time. In other words: On average, Etihad operated 5,000 monthly flights less than in 2019.
| Month | Flights 2021 | Flights 2019 | ’21 vs. ’19 (abs) | ’21 vs. ’19 (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February | 2,311 | 6,710 | 4,399 | 34.4% |
| March | 2,602 | 7,875 | 5,273 | 33.0% |
| April | 2,699 | 7,840 | 5,141 | 34.4% |
| May | 2,666 | 7,728 | 5,062 | 34.4% |
| June | 2,539 | 7,446 | 4,907 | 34.0% |
| Avg. ’21 | 2,563 | 7,519 | 4,956 | 34.0% |
Etihad Airways – Flight Punctuality
In the following chapter, we take a deeper look at Etihad’s flight punctuality. Again, we benchmark the EMEA averages and provide a domestic, regional, and global ranking.
Monthly Puncutality Overview
From February to June, Etihad achieved an average punctuality of 87.1%. Therefore, Etihad’s performance was 4.3 pp better than the EMEA average. However, the punctuality performance is still behind other big carriers that performed very well (Ryanair >92%, Aeroflot >92%, KLM >90%).
| February | March | April | May | June | Monthly Average ’21 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Etihad Airways | 87.1% | 92.8% | 83.8% | 86.7% | 85.2% | 87.1% |
| EMEA Average | 73.9% | 85.7% | 85.6% | 85.2% | 83.6% | 82.8% |
Etihad Airways Flights — Global & European Ranking By Punctuality
Overall, Etihad ranks in the first third concerning punctuality: Out of ~150 EMEA airlines, Ethiad ranks 46th, whereas globally out of 280 airlines Etihad ranks 89th.
| Month | Domestic Rank | EMEA Rank | Global Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| February | 2 | 29 | 74 |
| March | 2 | 23 | 48 |
| April | 2 | 58 | 118 |
| May | 2 | 58 | 102 |
| June | 3 | 62 | 106 |
| Average ’21 | 2 | 46 | 89 |
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Etihad Airways – Flight Cancellations
In the last chapter of this report, we take a detailed look at Etihad’s flight cancellations. Similar to the previous chapter, we put results concerning regional averages and provide rankings.
Monthly Cancellation Overview
As we will see in the below table, Etihad’s flight cancellation performance puts it in a similar position as for punctuality. On average, Etihad had to cancel 1.7% of its flights. Compared to the EMEA average, Etihad performed more than 2 pp better.
| February | March | April | May | June | Monthly Average ’21 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Etihad Airways | 2.0% | 0.5% | 1.4% | 3.6% | 1.0% | 1.7% |
| EMEA Average | 6.8% | 2.7% | 2.5% | 4.0% | 3.6% | 3.9% |
Etihad Airways Flights — EMEA Ranking by Cancellations
| Month | Domestic Rank | EMEA Rank | Global Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| February | 2 | 46 | 91 |
| March | 2 | 41 | 69 |
| April | 2 | 55 | 110 |
| May | 2 | 78 | 138 |
| June | 1 | 69 | 112 |
| Average ’21 | 2 | 57 | 104 |
Used Data
The shown information is based on OAG data and internal data sources. Rankings only included airlines that operated more than 500 flights in the respective month. However, the global benchmark includes all tracked flights. On average, 280 airlines are included in each month’s analysis. Whenever stated, EMEA refers to airlines based in Europe, the Middle East, or Africa.
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