Etihad Airways plans to increase its fleet after publishing its latest financial results.
The major results showcased a 48% increase in profit to USD 232 million for the first half of 2024, which was driven primarily by strong demand across the network.
Etihad Airways says it enjoyed fantastic cargo and passenger revenues, a solid recovery, and continued growth.
Cargo revenue increased some 10% compared to the same period in 2023. Etihad says it could utilise its fleet more than ever before and saw higher capacity on each service.
A total of 8.7 million passengers were carried over the year’s first half, representing a rise of some 38% year over year. Interestingly, the company cites that this result is three times higher than IATA expected the average growth for Middle Eastern carriers.
Thanks to the fantastic levels of performance that Etihad Airways has reported, the company is now continuing with its overall plans to increase its fleet and thus expand its network.
Etihad Aviation Group’s CEO said that in just over a year, they have added 16 more aircraft to their fleet, including the A321neo, which has been fantastic for them.
As part of future fleet growth plans in the short term, Etihad Airways firmly believes it’ll take delivery of 20 next-gen aircraft in the next 18 months.
Once these planes are delivered, Etihad Airways says they will reduce emissions and achieve 20% greater efficiency than the previous generation’s models.
Etihad Airways is currently amid one of its largest fleet and overall business expansions since its creation. These plans stem from Journey 2030, which will see considerable new heights in employee, fleet, and route network growth.
The company wants to be a driving force for the future of the Middle East and foster local economic growth, and to do this, it wants to boost its operations significantly.
This expansion is one of only a handful of attempts by the airline to expand, arguably one of the most noteworthy in the 2010s, with massive aircraft purchases.
However, these purchases preparing for the future would be the airline’s undoing, and the company would be plunged into losses exceeding multiple billions each year.
Looking forward, Etihad Airways will want to be better poised to grow stably and not face operational difficulties because of its ambitious targets.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Daniel Fowkes is a Melbourne-based aviation analyst and journalist with over a decade of industry experience. As founder of Dj’s Aviation, he delivers trusted analysis on aircraft, airline strategy and global aviation trends for djsaviation.net
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