Etihad is rapidly growing, having carried 18-19 million passengers in the last 12 months - an 80-90% increase over 2022 levels. The airline aims to reach 33 million passengers annually by 2030, and it plans to have a fleet of about 170 aircraft by 2030.
Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways is expanding 35% this year and its CEO, Antonoaldo Neves is confident of receiving around 22 new aircraft next year to support its future growth.
“It is indeed a global challenge, but we have worked very hard and focused in an agile way since 2023 to secure aircraft deliveries.” Etihad Airways CEO Antonoaldo Neves said.
“On one hand, we had some old orders that were very delayed, but in a way, we were lucky as we are ahead of other airlines trying to grow now—we were able to get some of those old orders fulfilled,”
Etihad Airways CEO Antonoaldo Neves
Aircraft Delivery Stream
Regarding the current delivery stream of new aircraft, Neves said the carrier is receiving new aircraft this year and expects about 22 more next year. “Additionally, we managed to secure some positions with manufacturers that were available earlier and were already delayed,” he continued.
“We’ve also built a lot of room and buffers into our plans to protect against supply chain issues, which have impacted the industry for many years—not just due to COVID.”
While there is still pressure to secure these aircraft, Neves said Etihad is in relatively good shape. “There are still some delays, but we’ve embedded those into our schedule as much as possible—we remain confident we’ll be able to execute our delivery plan,” he said.
Arik De, Chief Revenue and Commercial officer, added that Etihad has also spaced out the introduction of some new destinations to the latter half of 2025, with no expectation of the global supply chain challenges facing the industry abating any time soon. “Many of the planes originally slated for the first half of next year have been pushed to the second half, providing an additional 3-6-month buffer,” De said.
According to Etihad’s website, its fleet comprises 29 Airbus A320-family aircraft, five A350-1000s, four A380s, nine Boeing 777-300ERs, 43 787s and five 777Fs.
The Gulf Competition
Asked whether the rapid expansion of Etihad, Emirates, Qatar Airways, and other Gulf carriers might lead to overcapacity, Neves said the region is experiencing significant growth, with annual rates exceeding 10%.
“There is Emirates, Qatar, Saudia and Riyadh Air, flynas, IndiGo ... We’re seeing major expansion from airlines like Air India, IndiGo and Akasa,” Neves explains to CEOtalks, noting that Etihad serves not only the major hubs of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha but also the entire Gulf region, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and the U.S. East Coast. “The market potential is immense.”
Etihad is growing about 35% this year, triple the 12% growth rate of the UAE overall. I believe there is space for multiple successful carriers to coexist in this market ... If in [New York] JFK you can have four airlines competing, in three different airports, why can’t we have two in the UAE?
Etihad Airways CEO Antonoaldo Neves
The UAE is on track to exceed 100 million passengers, surpassing even Brazil—Neves’ home country—which has 80 million passengers annually. “We can grow to 200 million passengers one day — Etihad, Emirates and Qatar are all growing profitably,” he said. De said that the optimism was borne out of the region’s economic growth aligning with complementary demographic growth—indicators that he said give Etihad confidence for the future.
On Nov. 25, Etihad announced ten new destinations: Taipei, Hong Kong, Hanoi, Chiang Mai, Nong Khai, Krabi, Medan, Algiers, Tunis, and Atlanta. This will bring Etihad's total network to over 100 destinations.