Etihad Airways Airbus A320-200 plane is seen at the National Airport Minsk, Belarus April 19, 2018. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

ABU DHABI (Reuters) -Etihad Airways reported a nine-month profit of 1.7 billion dirhams ($463 million) on Friday, up 26% year-on-year, driven by higher revenue in both its passenger and cargo businesses.

Passenger revenue increased 20% in the nine-month period to 18.2 billion on increased capacity and an expanded network, while cargo revenue rose 8%.

Total revenue was up 18% to 21.7 billion dirhams.

Abu Dhabi-headquartered Etihad had an operating fleet of 115 aircraft as of September 2025, adding 19 aircraft from the prior-year period. The airline's load factor - a measure of how well it fills seats - stood at 88%.

CEO Antonoaldo Neves said the company's focus would remain on efficiency and performance.

Etihad, owned by Abu Dhabi's $225 billion ADQ wealth fund, does not have a timeline for going public as it has enough resources to "self-fund" its $20 billion growth plans for the next decade, Neves told Reuters in September.

The company could raise $1 billion from any planned IPO.

Etihad, which started operations in 2003, has been through a multi-year restructuring and management shake-up, but has expanded under Neves.

($1 = 3.6729 UAE dirhams)

(Reporting by Rachna Uppal. Editing by Mark Potter)