ETIHAD, the Middle East airline with strong links to the region through its international call centre at Manchester Airport and sponsorship of Manchester City FC, has announced strong annual results.
The Abu Dhabi-based carrier, which operates 14 flights from Manchester to the Gulf a week, said it was pleased with its local performance - Manchester is its top 10 routes (by passenger number) and in 2013 rose from 8th to 6th place.
From June Etihad will be increasing its capacity on its Manchester flights, moving from a 262-seat A330-200 to a 380-seater Boeing 777-300 aircraft.
Total revenue in 2013 rose 27% to a record $6.1bn, while net profit soared 48% from $42m to $62m as passenger numbers rose 12% to 11.5 million.
During the year Etihad increased its fleet increased from 70 to 89 aircraft
and placed an order worth $67bn order for up to 199 aircraft and 294 engines.
James Hogan, president and chief executive of Etihad Airways, said: "This is another important step forward in our journey as a growing, commercially successful business. We have hit every financial target for each of the last seven years, bringing sustainable profitability to a business which has grown from just $300m in revenues in 2005 to more than $6bn today.
"We have delivered that through our unique strategy, which has seen us combine industry-leading organic growth with wide-ranging partnerships and minority equity investments in strategically important carriers around the world."
In addition to its four existing equity partners - airberlin, Air Seychelles, Virgin Australia and Aer Lingus - Etihad Airways announced investments in three additional carriers in 2013.
Regulatory approval was received in November to acquire a 24% stake in India's Jet Airways. At year's end, the airline was awaiting regulatory approval for two other investments, a 49% stake in Serbia's national carrier, Air Serbia (formerly Jat Airways) and a 33.3% shareholding in Darwin Airline, a regional carrier based in Switzerland.
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