MANILA, Philippines — Etihad Airways reported revenues growth of 39 percent to US$1.1 billion (Q3 2010: US$785 million) on passenger numbers, up 18 percent to 2.25 million (1.9 million) in the airline’s strongest ever third quarter. Seat factor increased by 3.8 percent to 80.7 percent, the highest quarterly result in its history.
Operating costs rose 12 percent, on a 12 percent rise in capacity, while non-fuel costs rose only 7 percent. The airline has 81 percent of its fuel hedged for the rest of 2011.
Etihad Chief Executive Officer James Hogan said these figures contributed to strong profitability at an EBITDAR (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and rentals) level and the airline had moved into monthly operating profitability.
“Despite the continuing challenges of high fuel prices and economic downturn in many of the markets in which Etihad operates, we are seeing strong growth in all our key commercial indicators,” Hogan said.
“We are doing this by creating and marketing the world’s leading air travel product, while maintaining a rigorous focus on costs. Our clear target is to break even in 2011 and this is another big step in the right direction for us.
We are well on track to delivering a continuing financial return to our shareholder,” he said.
The quarter saw consistently strong performance across all markets. Particularly popular routes included those to the Americas (New York, Chicago and Toronto), Asia Pacific (Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Colombo, Manila, Sydney and Melbourne), Cairo, London, Dublin, Athens, and Istanbul. Etihad has added six aircraft to its fleet in the last 12 months, enabling the airline to build greater depth into its schedule and increase weekly frequencies to key markets including Paris, Manchester, Milan, Geneva, Brussels, Bangalore, and Manila.
Courtesy of: Manila Bulletin
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