Etihad Airways posted a record profit last year amid strong travel demand backed by fleet expansion, with plans to invest Dh80 billion ($21.8 billion) in new aircraft and products over the next decade.
The Abu Dhabi-based airline’s profit after tax rose 47 per cent to Dh2.6 billion last year, as it carried more passengers and invested in premium cabin offerings, it said on Tuesday. This marks Etihad Airways’ fourth consecutive year of profitability.
Total revenue increased by 21 per cent year on year to Dh30.7 billion, driven mainly by a 24 per cent rise in passenger revenue to Dh25.8 billion amid better load factors. Cargo revenue also grew 8 per cent to Dh4.5 billion, backed by higher capacity and volumes.
The airline carried 22.4 million passengers last year, up 21 per cent year on year, with capacity increasing at the same pace. Etihad Airways said demand remained strong across its network, with load factor rising to 88.3 per cent, up two percentage points from the prior year.
“It’s all coming together: The strategy that we put together, the expansion that we’re deploying, the investments of millions and millions of dollars in customer service,” Antonoaldo Neves, chief executive of Etihad Airways told reporters on Tuesday.
“And now we have a plan to invest in the next 10 years Dh80 billion in … new aircraft, new product enhancements.”
The airline is increasing its investment in premium cabins as demand for seats in the front of the cabin continues to grow.
“We’re doubling the bet, investing more, especially in the premium cabin and customer experience,” Mr Neves said.
Last year, it introduced the Airbus A321LR, a narrow-body with fully lie-flat seating and fine dining.
“The [A321]LR is doing very well. On First-Class, it’s performing better than we were expecting,” Mr Neves said. “It’s performing very well in Business Class as well. It’s a private jet experience in a narrow-body.”
He said this year will be a “big year” for investments, not in new products, but in “uplifting the onboard experience” from luxury amenity kits, to improved food and beverage menus and a global chauffeur service.
However, the airline is seeking to balance the scale of its ambitions against a sustainable rate of growth.
“Of course, this is a sector where you have to be careful. So we have our feet grounded but we have a lot of ambition, so we got to keep working hard,” Mr Neves said.
Etihad Airways said its cash flow from operations reached about Dh8 billion last year, enabling the airline to fully fund its capital expenditure requirement for the year.
The cash flow also helped the airline reduce its debt and further invest in aircraft, with investments made during 2025 four times more than the year before, Mr Neves said. “M&A is not part of our strategy, if we have cash, we prefer to use that cash for organic growth.”
Geopolitical headwinds
The airline is closely monitoring the geopolitical tension in the Middle East and has contingency plans in place, Mr Neves said. It is ready to shift capacity to other regions in its global network if necessary.
“We sell only about 40 per cent of our tickets in the region, 60 per cent of the tickets are outside of the region,” he said.
“We faced some geopolitical tensions in regions that we fly to, last year, and we managed to compensate with other regions,” he said. “We are ready … we’re going to manage it. We have our backup plans.”
The comments come amid escalating US-Iran tension. Iran‘s response to US attacks will be “severe” even if US President Donald Trump orders only “limited” military action, Tehran said on Monday.
“If things get complicated in any region in the world, we deploy our Plan B and Plan C and we manage. So I’m very comfortable that we have the right skills and the right tools to face [any situation],” Mr Neves said.
Etihad Airways’ network spanned 110 destinations at the end of last year, up from 94 in the prior year. It operates in regional hotspots including Beirut and Tel Aviv.
New ownership structure
Last month, Abu Dhabi said it would consolidate the assets of sovereign wealth fund ADQ into its recently created investment vehicle, L’imad Holding, to create a “sovereign investment powerhouse with a diversified asset base”.
Etihad Airways will now fall under the portfolio of L’imad.
Asked whether there is a change in direction or a preference for the company to float under its new shareholder, Mr Neves said: “For us, it’s business as usual … IPO [initial public offering] is a shareholder decision, so it’s not for the management to comment.”
