Etihad Airways Posts 27% Rise in Revenues

Etihad Airways PJSC on Tuesday said revenues grew 27% in the first quarter after the ambitious Abu Dhabi carrier flew significantly more passengers this year, buoyed by stakes in airlines around the world.

The government-owned airline, which is in negotiations to buy a stake in Italy's Alitalia, grew its revenues to $1.4 billion in the first three months of the year, as 3.2 million passengers used its network, 14% more than in the same period a year earlier, according to an emailed statement. Etihad doesn't report audited net profit figures.

The growth in the number of passengers flying on Etihad's network didn't keep pace with the airline's increased capacity on its flights, which increased from 15.9 billion available seat kilometers, an industry metric, to 19.2 billion.

Etihad is currently pursuing an unproven strategy of taking stakes in airlines around the world to feed passengers on to its own planes. It holds investments in seven airlines, including Air Berlin PLC, India's Jet Airways (India) Ltd and Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd.

These partnerships helped feed 678,000 passengers onto the Abu Dhabi carrier's flights in the first quarter, 25% more than the same period last year. Revenue from code-share and equity partners rose 23% to $223 million, representing 22% of total revenue in the quarter, the airline said.

Etihad added six new routes in the first quarter and will launch services to eight more destinations in 2014, increasing its network to 103 routes by the end of the year, the carrier added.

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