JEDDAH: Etihad Airways said its profit rose by more than half to $73 million last year as it carried more passengers and used its stakes in other airlines to drive traffic through its Abu Dhabi hub.

The government-backed airline said its earnings rose 52 percent over the $48 million it said its stand-alone airline business earned the previous year, marking its fourth year of profitability.

“Our shareholder has set a clear commercial mandate for this business and we continue to deliver against that mandate. Our focus is on sustainable profitability,” President and CEO James Hogan said in a statement.

Etihad’s revenue for the year increased to $7.6 billion from $6 billion in 2013.

That increase was helped by a 22-percent jump in passenger numbers to 14.8 million as the airline continued to add capacity with the addition of new planes.

The carrier also grew its route network, launching services to 10 new destinations, including tourist hotspots like Rome and Phuket, Thailand, as well as the American cities of Los Angeles, Dallas and San Francisco.

Etihad credited its sales growth in part on its strategy of partnering with other carriers through minority equity stakes and codeshares outside of longer-standing traditional airline alliances.

Those partnerships contributed $1.1 billion in revenues in 2014, the airline said.

Citing new research by the global consultancy Oxford Economics, Etihad said in an earlier statement that it will contribute $2.9 billion to the US economy and support 23,400 American jobs this year,

The study, commissioned by Etihad Airways, projects that by 2020, the airline’s operating expenditure and capital investments will almost double to support 46,200 American jobs and deliver $6.2 billion a year.

These are among the key conclusions of the Oxford Economics Report, released today by Vijay Poonoosamy, vice president international and public affairs of Etihad Airways, to quantify the economic contribution which the airline makes to the US.

The study, which is now published on www.keeptheskiesopen.com, assessed the airline’s capital expenditure with US suppliers and its operating expenditure in the country to calculate a value for direct, indirect, induced and catalytic contributions.

The economic benefits of connectivity between the US and destinations in the Etihad Airways network have been valued by Oxford Economics at $410 million this year, rising to an expected $850 million by 2020.

Poonoosamy said Etihad Airways’ presence in the US market had generated economic activity for third party organizations including hotels, ground transport providers and a wide range travel industry partners.