Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, has reported total revenues of $1.8 billion for the third quarter of 2014, an impressive increase of 29 percent year-on-year, achieved on the back of accelerated passenger and cargo growth during the summer.

A total of 3.9 million passengers traveled with Etihad Airways between July and September this year, 30 percent higher than the three million passengers from the same period in 2013.

Etihad Cargo also outperformed the global market, carrying 144,498 tons of freight and mail during the third quarter, a year-on-year increase of nine percent, on only one percent capacity growth.

The growth in passenger demand and revenue during the three month period once again outstripped the airline’s capacity increase, highlighting the strength of its long-term growth strategy.

Etihad Airways remains on track to achieve its strongest ever annual results, having carried 10.5 million passengers and almost 415,000 tons of cargo between January and September 2014.

James Hogan, president and CEO of Etihad Airways, said: “Our focus on organic growth, codeshare partnerships and minority investments in other airlines has continued to produce strong results, despite the prevalence of industry challenges such as volatile oil prices, economic and political instability, overcapacity in the market, and access constraints.”

Following the launch of services to Madinah, Jaipur, Los Angeles and Zurich in the first half of 2014, the third quarter included the start of Yerevan, Perth and Rome services, while frequencies increased on eight existing routes, including Dublin, Athens and Chennai. The airline’s global route network currently includes 110 existing or announced destinations, with flights launching to Phuket this month, San Francisco in November, and Dallas in December.

Organic growth was supported by codeshare and equity partnerships in Q3, 2014, delivering an estimated 1.1 million passengers onto Etihad Airways flights.