Etihad Airways reports surge in first-half profit

DUBAI, Aug 10 (Reuters): Etihad Airways reported a 48 per cent increase first-half profit on Thursday, helped by an increase in passenger and cargo revenue, ahead of possible stock market listing of the Abu Dhabi carrier.
The airline, which over the past seven years has gone through a massive restructuring, including overhauling its management, reported a profit after tax of 851 million AED dirhams ($232 million), up from 575 million a year earlier.
Revenue rose 21 per cent to 11.7 billion dirhams, helped by a 38 per cent rise in passenger numbers to 8.7 million. Cargo revenue rose 10 per cent to 1.9 billion dirhams.
CEO Antonoaldo Neves told Reuters in March the state-owned airline was improving transparency, governance and its balance sheet to be ready for a public flotation should its Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund owner, ADQ, decide to list it.
Bloomberg has reported that ADQ, which took over Etihad in October 2022 and appointed Neves as CEO, is considering an IPO for the airline as early as this year.