RIO DE JANEIRO, June 7 (Reuters) – Etihad Airways is ordering more ‌widebody planes as the Middle ‌East carrier expects to be flying about ​8% more than a year ago by June 15, CEO Antonoaldo Neves said in an interview.

He said ‌on the sidelines ⁠of a global gathering of airline CEOs in Brazil ⁠on Saturday that the Abu Dhabi carrier is buying widebody planes ​in the ​double digits, ​declining to specify ‌further.

Etihad is restoring flights after making cuts in March as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran turned regional, raising fuel prices, Neves said.

He said ‌Etihad does not plan ​to trim costs ​by cutting ​flights at the moment.

“The biggest ‌cost we have is ​an ​empty plane,” he said. “So the way I cut cost is I ​don’t ‌have empty planes.”

(Reporting By Allison Lampert ​in Rio de Janeiro; Editing ​by William Mallard)