Etihad Airways Reports 28% Rise in Revenue for Q1 2012

Etihad Airways continued its impressive rate of growth in the first quarter of 2012, with a 28% rise in revenue to US$ 989 million over the corresponding period in 2011. Passenger numbers soared by 500,000 to reach 2.4 million.

“We met all our revenue targets and budget estimates in the first quarter, despite the challenging economic conditions confronting the international community,” said Etihad Airways President and Chief Executive Officer, James Hogan. “Despite the tough economic times we believe our business model of organic network growth combined with codeshare partnerships and strategic equity investments will enable us to continue to prosper and ensure sustainable profitability.”

The record results were unveiled as Mr Hogan outlined plans for a significant expansion of the airline’s global network over the next 18 months.

These included a daily service to Etihad Airways’ as yet undisclosed first South America destination mid-year, and a new service to Vietnam.

Already in the first quarter of 2012 Etihad Airways has announced the launch of non-stop daily flights to Washington, D.C., begun flights to Tripoli, Shanghai and Nairobi, and will soon start services to Basra and Lagos, as well as increase flight frequencies to Düsseldorf, Bangkok, Cairo, Kuwait, and Dammam. Extra capacity will also be added to London Heathrow and Kuala Lumpur.

Etihad Airways will take delivery of seven new aircraft in 2012 – three Airbus A320s and four Boeing B777s, with the first three-class B777-300ER deployed on the London route from July. The carrier’s fleet will have grown to 71 aircraft by year’s end.

Etihad’s revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) rose during the first quarter by 26.6% to 10.9 billion, thanks to growth in available seat kilometres (ASKs) through new routes, additional frequencies, increased seat capacity and strengthening load factors. Seat factor jumped by 3.8 percentage points to 76.5%, the highest first quarter level in the airline’s history.

Mr Hogan said Etihad Airways continued to focus on maintaining profitability, despite challenging market conditions. Escalating fuel costs, in particular, had a major impact on the aviation sector during the quarter. “Fuel prices are our largest variable cost and they are tracking higher than 2011. We remain committed to an active fuel hedging strategy. 80% of our first quarter’s fuel costs were hedged and we currently have 74% of fuel costs hedged for the rest of 2012,” he said.

In March, Etihad Airways increased the fuel surcharge on its European flights to offset the costs being imposed on the airline by the European Union (EU) Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

Etihad Airways beat its 2011 break even target last year when it posted a net profit of US$14 million.

Despite an industry-wide slowdown in air freight markets, Etihad Cargo defied the trend with revenues up 12.2% to US$159 million.

Mr Hogan said sensible investments would continue in all areas of the business. “This encompasses all our key priorities – safety, service, training, product and partnerships. And of course we remain firmly focused on ensuring 2012 will be the most profitable in the airline’s history. We’ve made a good start and will now build on our success over the next nine months,” he said.

See other recent news regarding: Airlines, Airports, Awards, Flights, Codeshare, FFP, Inflight, Lounges, First Class, Business Class, MICE, GDS, Rewards, Miles, Hotels, Apartments, Promotions, Spas, Yoga, Retreat, New Hotels, Traffic, Visitor Arrivals, Cruises, Free Deals, Interviews, Pictures, Videos, Etihad Airways, Abu Dhabi