Dubai: Etihad Airways reported on Wednesday a 41 per cent increase in full-year profit as it carried more passengers and equity airlines contributed more to company revenue.
The the Abu Dhabi-owned carrier made $103 million (Dh378.01 million) in the 12 months to December 31 compared to 73 million in the previous year, according a company statement. Revenues rose 18.6 per cent from $7.6 billion to $9.02 billion.
“Our profitability clearly demonstrates the success of our business strategy, based on organic growth boosted by our partnerships,” Etihad president and chief executive James Hogan said in the statement.
Other airlines that Etihad holds minority stakes and code-share agreements contributed $1.4 billion in revenue to the company, according to the statement. Those airlines contributed five million passengers to Etihad’s network in 2015.
In total, Etihad carried 17.6 million passengers in 2015, representing an increase of 18.9 per cent, with “growth in passenger volume continued to exceed Etihad Airways’ capacity increase.”
“As well as operating profitability, we are building enterprise value across the airline and its many additional business streams,” Hogan said.
Etihad has built up its networks by buying stakes seven foreign airlines, mostly in Europe. Those are Alitalia, Air Berlin, Air Serbia, Swiss regional carrier Darwin operating as Etihad Regional, Jet Airways, Air Seychelles and Virgin Australia.
It sold its stake in Ireland’s Aer Lingus last year to British Airways’ owner International Airlines Group and increased its share in Virgin Australia to 25.1 per cent.
Hogan said “all our partners are delivering,” however he also said the investment in Air Berlin is taking longer to mature than expected.
“Even with an investment such as Air Berlin, where it has taken longer than expected for the airline to reach sustainable profitability, we are seeing incredibly strong returns directly into our business, far in excess of our original expectations,” he said.
Etihad said the German carrier has contributed $500 million in direct revenue to the Abu Dhabi carrier since the first equity stake was purchased. Air Berlin now contributes $150 million in direct revenue to Etihad annually, it said.
Etihad added six new destinations to its network in 2015 to Kolkata, Madrid, Hong Kong, Entebbe, Edinburgh and Dar es Salaam while added 11 new aircraft to its fleet taking the total to 121 as of December 31. This included four Airbus A380-800s, all featuring the airline’s three-suite The Residence, and four Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner’s.
Cargo freight volumes increased four per cent to 591 thousand tonnes. The airline’s workforce increased 9.7 per cent to 26,566, representing 144 different nationalities, with Emirati employees increasing 29 per cent to 3,000. Etihad’s frequent flyer programme members increase 29 per cent to 3.75 million.
