Dubai: Etihad Airway’s carried “almost” 14.8 million passengers in 2014, a 23 per cent rise on the previous year, the airline said in a statement on Monday.
The airlines equity strategy, where it has bought stakes in a number of airlines from Australia to Ireland, added 3.5 million passengers onto Etihad flights, a 40 per cent rise on the 2.5 million passengers in 2013.
Etihad splashed out on its equity strategy in 2014. A €560 million (Dh2.31 billion) investment in Alitalia saw Etihad taking a 49 per cent stake in the Italian airline. Etihad injected €300 million into Air Berlin, of which it holds a stake of nearly 30 per cent.
The airline also spent millions of euros to increase its holding in Ireland’s Aer Lingus to 4.1 per cent and millions of Australian dollars to increase its stake in Virgin Australia to 22.9 per cent.
The Abu Dhabi-based airline said its fleet expanded 24 per cent to 110 aircraft, which included the delivery of its first Airbus A380 and Boeing 787-9 at the end of the year.
The airlines cargo division carried 568,648 tonnes of freight and mail in 2014, a year-on-year increase of 17 per cent.
