Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has announced its strongest annual financial results to date, with a net profit of US$103 million on total revenues of US$9.02 billion.

The performance, which marked the airline’s fifth consecutive year of net profitability, also saw earnings before interest and tax of US$ 259 million, and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and rentals of US$ 1.4 billion, representing 16 per cent of total revenues.

James Hogan, Etihad Airways chief executive, said: “Our mandate is to build a sustainably profitable airline.

“A fifth year of net profits, with our best annual financial performance to date, shows that we are delivering against that goal. 

“Our profitability clearly demonstrates the success of our business strategy, based on organic growth boosted by our partnerships.

“As well as operating profitability, we are building enterprise value across the airline and its many additional business streams.”

Etihad Airways’ financial statements are audited by Deloitte and are in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards.

Etihad Airways carried a total of 17.6 million passengers in 2015, an increase of 18.9 per cent year-on-year.

The growth in passenger volume continued to exceed Etihad Airways’ capacity increase and outperformed regional market growth, which has seen a decline in load factors since mid-2014.

In total, the airline operated 97,400 flights covering 467 million kilometres.

The average network-wide seat load factor was 79.4 per cent for 2015, compared with 79.2 per cent in 2014.

Six new destinations were added to Etihad Airways’ global network – Kolkata, Madrid, Hong Kong, Entebbe, Edinburgh and Dar es Salaam – and capacity increased on 16 existing routes with bigger aircraft, more frequency and improved seat occupancy.

Etihad Airways’ fleet increased by 11 aircraft to a total of 121 at year end. 

With an average age of 5.8 years, Etihad Airways’ fleet is one of the youngest and most environmentally friendly in the industry.

The additions included four A380-800 and four Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, while further leased capacity was also added.

The A380 was rolled out on the Sydney and New York routes, and inducted on a second daily flight to London Heathrow, while the 787 began commercial operations between Abu Dhabi and Zurich, Brisbane, Washington DC and Singapore.