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Etihad Airways sees 2025 profits surpassing Dh1.7 billion, to announce H1 results soon
The airline is expected to reach 20 million passengers this year, up from 17.5 million last year
- PUBLISHED: Sun 27 Jul 2025, 2:52 PM
Etihad Airways is expected to surpass its record Dh1.7 billion 2024 profit this year, the airline's CEO Antonoaldo Neves told Khaleej Times in an interview.
The company maintained its record profit growth this year, reaching Dh685 million in the first quarter of 2025, an increase of 30 per cent year-on-year.
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“We already revealed second-quarter results to our board. So the first half numbers are good. We keep generating cash. The airline is doing well, and forward bookings are looking good. We're confident as a lot of new aircraft will arrive by the end of the year,” Neves said.
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“In terms of profitability, we don't give guidance, but we expect it to be better than last year,” he said in reply to expectations about this year's profits.
“We're excited and confident. But this is an industry that is very volatile. So we need to be really paying attention to everything. It's only over when it's over.”
In terms of passengers, Neves said Etihad Airways is expected to reach 20 million passengers this year. Last year, it carried 17.5 million. “We're probably going to end up at 21.5 million,” he said.
The UAE national airline carried 5 million passengers during the first quarter, with load factor improving to 87 per cent.
Record profits
Many UAE airlines have been reporting record profits on the back of strong growth in the travel and tourism sector.
In May, the UAE flag carrier Emirates hit a new record profit after tax of Dh19.1 billion, outstripping last year’s Dh17.2 billion. This was the best performance in the airline’s history and the airline industry for the reporting year 2024-25.
Similarly, flydubai announced record-breaking annual results for its financial year ending December 21, 2024. The Dubai-based carrier marks its strongest-ever financial performance in its 15-year history, reporting a pre-tax profit of Dh2.5 billion, a 16 per cent growth compared to the previous financial year with a total revenue of Dh12.8 billion ($3.5 billion), marking an increase of 15% compared to Dh11.2 billion ($3 billion) in 2023. The new milestone was driven by the strength of flydubai’s diverse network as well as its strong and agile business model.
