Etihad posts near 50% jump in profit in 2025

Etihad Airways, the national carrier of the UAE, delivered its strongest financial and operational performance in history in 2025, marking a fourth consecutive year of profitability powered by record passenger numbers and global expansion.

 

Hailing 2025 as a “landmark” year, Etihad said it has plans to invest AED80 billion over the next 10 years in new aircraft and “uplifting the onboard experience”.

 

For the year ending December 2025, the airline posted a record post-tax profit of AED2.6 billion, a 47% rise on the same period last year, which was also a record. Its profit margin of 8.4% is more than twice as high as the global airline industry average at 3.9%, making Etihad the fastest growing airline in the world, it claims.

 

Total revenue climbed 21% year-on-year to AED30.7 billion, driven mainly by a 24% rise in passenger revenue to AED25.8 billion amid better load factors. 

 

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Passenger performance was particularly strong, with traveller numbers rising 21% year-on-year to 22.4 million, supported by a matching 21% increase in capacity. Etihad said demand remained solid across its network, with load factor increasing to 88.3%, up two percentage points on the prior year. The carrier accounted for nearly half of total passenger growth in the UAE in 2025.

 

Abu Dhabi stopovers drive growth

Among the most notable of factors that contributed to such growth was the rise in point-to-point traffic to Abu Dhabi, surging 19.6% to 5.5 million, and the city’s stopover programme, which more than doubled in size from 80,000 to 170,000.

 

The programme allows travellers to build a free two-night stay in the city into their itinerary, which also gets them a ’Stopover Pass’ with discounts to attractions, arguably a compelling option for transit passengers from Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

 

This was supported by the airline’s largest-ever fleet of 127 aircraft, up from 101 aircraft a year ago, serving 110 destinations. Network expansion over the last year rocketed with the launch of 27 new routes, and nearly 30 new destinations added or announced over the past 12 months, taking its global footprint to almost 90 cities.