São Paulo – Etihad Airways, the airline based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, carried 14.8 million passengers last year, a 23% growth over 2013. In total, the company was responsible for more than 74% of the 19.9 million people that travelled to Abu Dhabi International Airport in 2014. The information was released by the company this Monday (02).
“Our business model, which focuses on organic network growth, codeshare partnerships and minority equity investments in other Airlines, continued to yield positive results in 2014 and surpassed our double-digit targets for passenger and cargo growth”, said James Hogan, Etihad’s president and CEO, through the company’s press release.
In 2014, Etihad included ten new destinations in its global route network and increased frequencies on 23 other existing routes. The company also expanded its codeshare agreements and equity partnerships with other airlines. According to the release, these partnerships delivered over 3.5 million passengers onto Etihad flights.
Among the new codeshare agreements signed in 2014 by the Arab company are the one with Brazilian airline Gol and the one with the also South-American airline Aerolineas Argentinas.
Etihad also reported a strong cargo growth last year, with 568,648 tons of freight in its aircraft, up 17% over 2013. The airline was responsible for the transportation of 89.6% of imported, exported and transferred cargo at Abu Dhabi’s airport in 2014.
Last year, Etihad increased freight transportation capacity in its passenger aircraft and launched a cargo service taking off from Milan, Italy, to Bogota, Colombia, and from Bogota to Amsterdam, Netherlands, after a partnership with Avianca Cargo, the cargo service from Colombian airline Avianca.
According to data from the São Paulo International Airport, in Guarulhos, in 2014 Etihad carried a total of 150,187 passengers through the biggest Brazilian airport. The busiest month for the Arab airline in the São Paulo-based airport was December, when 15,098 passengers travelled with the company.
“We entered 2015 as a stronger and more dinamic airline that will continue to strengthen the growth of Abu Dhabi as one of the emerging aviation centers of the world”, sayd Hogan, according to the company’s press release.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
