Etihad Airways's nine-month profit up 66% on booming passenger numbers

Abu Dhabi carrier Etihad Airways reported a 66% increase in net profit in the first nine months of the year, helped by a double-digit increase in passenger traffic. The state-owned airline made 1.4b dirhams ($381m) as of Sept. 30, it said in a statement on Thursday, compared to 814m dirhams in the same period a year earlier. Total revenue increased 21% to 18.4b dirhams with the airline carrying 13.6m passengers over the year, which Etihad said marked a 35% increase compared to the previous year. The airline has added flights and new routes. "This impressive growth is driven by strong results in both passenger and cargo revenues, underscoring the effectiveness of our strategy and the strength of our growth trajectory," CE Antonoaldo Neves said in the statement.<br/>