Partnerships help treble Etihad profits to €31m

Etihad Airways has seen its profits treble to $42m (€31m) on the back of partnerships with other airlines and cost-cutting measures.

Etihad put the increase in revenues down to successful partnerships with other airlines, including Aer Lingus, airberlin, Air Seychelles and Virgin Australia.

The Aer Lingus codeshare is understood to be contributing about a 1,000 passengers a month to Etihad since it was announced in September.

Chief executive of Etihad Airways, James Hogan, said, the airline’s performance has been remarkable this year.

“This has been a game-changing year for Etihad Airways. We have delivered improved net profit, the second consecutive year we have been in the black, a remarkable achievement given the youth, ambitious growth and ongoing investment made by this airline in a challenging global economic environment,” he said.

Passenger numbers on the Middle East’s third largest airline grew to 10.3m following a 17% increase in sales pushing the total value of sales to $4.8bn.

Nearly a fifth of all sales were delivered through the codeshare partnerships with other airlines.

The company looks set to continue using the model of taking a stake and arranging partnerships with other airlines.

Mr Hogan said: “By investing in other airlines we have been able to achieve scale and collectively reduce our unit cost.”

He said Etihad is close to completing the due diligence process to determine whether to take an equity stake in India’s Jet Airways. Etihad’s board still has to decide whether to take the decision to invest in Jet, which Mr Hogan called “a great airline” with a strong network

The airline also became one of the first in the world to offer inflight high-speed internet access on a flight from Brussels last year.