Etihad IPO not the end goal but a natural progression, says airline CEO
DUBAI: The Etihad Airways initial public offering (IPO) — which has been widely speculated — “is not the end goal but a natural progression” for the UAE national carrier, the company CEO told Arab News on Sunday noting Etihad is fully ready for public listing from the standpoint of governance and financial result.
Speaking of IPO, Etihad Airways CEO, Antonoaldo Neves, however, stressed "no decision has been made on IPO, as decision is up to the shareholder". Sovereign wealth fund ADQ, owner of Etihad, did not comment on the issue. Etihad was established in 2003.
After having a record 2024, there have been talks regardingEtihad's plans to go public this year where passenger numbers have been emerging from the last two years.
Etihad posted a record Dh1. Last year Dh20 led to 7-billion profit after tax. Passenger revenue of Dh8 billion and Dh4. $2B in shipment revenue, and huge operational efficiencies. The UAE national airline also carried over 18.5 million passengers in the full year 2024, a 32 per cent increase from 2023, or 80 per cent, year-on-year, when compared to passenger numbers in 2022.
Etihad's imminent goal, according to Neves was not an IPO but the expansion of its corporate governance and balance sheet, which are "already made for an IPO."
At the launch of its latest destination in Ethiopia, flying to Addis Adaba, Neves said: "The IPO is not a requirement but a possibility it is a way to grow (Etihad) in a very capital-intensive business.
But Neves did not disguise his excitement over persistent speculation over an IPO of the Etihad brand revealing that if the stories of an IPO kept coming, that extra money meant "the airline is doing good." "'Because if we're doing poorly, no one would ever speculate on a single IPO, right?,” he added.
Aside from that, we have grown our margins and increased profitability. We still have a ton of things to do, but we have the good support from our shareholders. We've got a great board and we've got terrific people here in the company," he said.
The CEO next said that offering shares to institutional and individual investors would be "a natural progression" for Etihad as it was as of boosting and aspiration to and become a global travel hub. “It's (IPO) natural, right? he said, adding that ADQ itself is a public company.
Neves noted that running an airline is an extremely capital-intensive business and you need to have flexibility and range of strong base instruments like IPO.
Based on corporate governance transparency and financial result, Etihad has satisfied all the conditions to provide an IPO, he said with assurance. The (IPO) is in the hand's of the shareholder's up to now, but airline is performing very good. Only time will tell further crores do it or not," he added.
Expanding routes
Neves, for his part, said that the priority for Etihad now is growing its global footprint. Over the course of every day transport between Abu Dhabi and Addis Ababa will begin on 1 October to turn into its fifteenth new location for 2025. This comes after the Joint Venture (JV) agreement was signed with Ethiopian Airlines
Neves added that Etihad "is putting an effort to grow partnerships" worldwide.
Now read: "We already announced an agreement with China Eastern to enhance connectivity to China, and we expect that to open a lot of gateways there. (Partnerships) are important for Etihad because it allows us to serve customers with more connectivity to and from international destinations across the globe,”
Etihad announced its third daily flight to Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport (SVO) earlier this week, alongside the launch of service to Sochi, Russia's leading Black Sea resort, which is expected to commence on May 29.
Etihad also announced a non-stop service to the Indonesian island city of Medan launching on October 2 last week.
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