Etihad Airways posts 48 pc increase in net profit

Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, which has acquired a 24 per cent stake in India's Jet Airways posted a record 48 per cent increase in its net profit last year at USD 62 million.
This marked the third successive year of net profitability for the UAE's national carrier in the tenth year of its operation.
Etihad in a statement released yesterday said its revenues were up 27 per cent to USD 6.1 billion.
"This is another important step forward in our journey as a growing, commercially successful business. We have hit every financial target for each of the last seven years, bringing sustainable profitability to a business which has grown from just USD 300 million in revenues in 2005 to more than USD 6 billion today." President and Chief Executive Officer of Etihad Airways, James Hogan, said in the statement.

The airline has announced nine new destinations for 2014 - the US cities of Los Angeles and Dallas-Fort Worth, the European gateways of Rome and Zurich, Jaipur in India, Perth in Western Australia, Phuket in Thailand, Medina in Saudi Arabia and Yerevan in Armenia.
Regulatory approval was received in November to acquire the 24 per cent stake in the Indian carrier. At year's end, Etude was awaiting regulatory approval for two other investments, a 49 per cent stake in Serbia's national carrier, Air Serbia (formerly Jat Airways) and a 33.3 per cent shareholding in Darwin Airline, a regional carrier based in Switzerland, the statement said.

A key driver of the Gulf carrier's growth in 2013 was its partnership strategy, based on wide-ranging codeshares and its unique approach of minority equity investments in strategically important airlines.