Etihad Airways, which this year celebrates its 10th anniversary of operations, has recorded its strongest ever passenger and cargo results for a first quarter.
The Abu Dhabi-based airline posted Q1 2013 passenger revenues of $ 900 million (2012: $ 758 million), an increase of 19 per cent; and cargo revenues of $ 193 million (2012: $ 165 million), an increase of 17 per cent.
Passenger numbers in Q1 2013 grew by 18 per cent, rising from 2.3 million to a record 2.8 million.
The average seat factor was 80.5 per cent, four percentage points higher than the previous year (2012: 76.5 per cent), despite a 12 per cent increase in capacity.
The seat factor is above IATA’s current global average of 77.1 per cent.
Etihad Cargo also had its strongest first quarter, with tonnage up 20 per cent from 85,152 to 101,776 tons.
James Hogan, president and CEO of Etihad Airways, said: “Our Q1 2013 results have again outstripped global trends, with our strongest ever first quarter results for passenger revenue.”
Hogan said: “This performance demonstrates that Etihad Airways’ strategy of organic growth, wide-ranging partnerships, and strategic equity investments is delivering for us and our partners.”
Revenue from codeshare and equity partners jumped by 34 per cent from $ 136 million to $ 182 million in the first three months of the year and represented 20 per cent of total revenue in the quarter.
“As well as increasing top-line revenue, our equity partnerships will improve bottom-line results, through cost savings delivered by operational synergies,” Hogan said.
In February 2013, Etihad Airways announced a $ 42 million profit for 2012 with revenues of $ 4.8 billion and passenger numbers breaking 10 million for the first time.
