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."