Etihad Airways PJSC on Tuesday said revenues grew 27% in the
first quarter after the ambitious Abu Dhabi carrier flew
significantly more passengers this year, buoyed by stakes in
airlines around the world.
The government-owned airline, which is in negotiations to buy a
stake in Italy's Alitalia, grew its revenues to $1.4 billion in the
first three months of the year, as 3.2 million passengers used its
network, 14% more than in the same period a year earlier, according
to an emailed statement. Etihad doesn't report audited net profit
figures.
The growth in the number of passengers flying on Etihad's
network didn't keep pace with the airline's increased capacity on
its flights, which increased from 15.9 billion available seat
kilometers, an industry metric, to 19.2 billion.
Etihad is currently pursuing an unproven strategy of taking
stakes in airlines around the world to feed passengers on to its
own planes. It holds investments in seven airlines, including Air
Berlin PLC, India's Jet Airways (India) Ltd and Virgin Australia
Holdings Ltd.
These partnerships helped feed 678,000 passengers onto the Abu
Dhabi carrier's flights in the first quarter, 25% more than the
same period last year. Revenue from code-share and equity partners
rose 23% to $223 million, representing 22% of total revenue in the
quarter, the airline said.
Etihad added six new routes in the first quarter and will launch
services to eight more destinations in 2014, increasing its network
to 103 routes by the end of the year, the carrier added.
Write to Rory Jones at rory.jones@wsj.com
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