Etihad Airways, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary of operations this year, has recorded its strongest ever passenger and cargo results for a first quarter, posting $900 million (passenger) and $193 million (Cargo) revenues.
The Abu Dhabi-based airline, which also operates daily flights to Lagos, recorded an increase of 19 per cent in passenger revenue over $758 million in 2012; and 17 percent of cargo revenues $165 million in 2012.
A statement by the airline said passenger numbers in quarter one in 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 International Air Transport Association (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 tonnes.
“Our Q1 2013 results have again outstripped global trends, with our strongest ever first quarter results for passenger revenue,” James Hogan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Etihad Airways, 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,” he said.
Revenue from codeshare and equity partners also 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 added.
Etihad Airways’ equity alliance comprises Air berlin, Air Seychelles, Virgin Australia, and Aer Lingus. Each airline announced profitable results during the first quarter of 2013, which demonstrates the success of this new alliance model for all the member airlines.
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.
Etihad Airways’ available seat kilometers (ASKs) rose 12 per cent in the first quarter of 2013 to 15.9 billion as the fleet grew to 73 passenger and cargo aircraft.
Revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) rose 17 per cent to 12.9 billion as against 10.9 billion in 2012, sharply out performing capacity growth.
SADE WILLIAMS
