Etihad has laid out plans to spend US$1 billion on retrofitting older jets as the airline looks to build on a surge in profit this year against a backdrop of new aircraft shortages.
Around 50 Boeing Co (NYSE:BA, ETR:BCO) 787 and 777s will be refurbished initially, before stretching to all of Etihad’s wide-body jets, chief executive Antonoaldo Neves said on Thursday.
This comes as the industry grapples with long wait times for new jets on mounting backlogs at the likes of Boeing and Airbus, alongside shortages of replacement parts.
Etihad has previously bought its A380s out of retirement to be flown until at least the end of the decade as a result, though these will not be upgraded.
Etihad unveiled a 66% jump in post-tax profit to US$368 million for the first nine months of the year earlier on Thursday.
Revenue climbed 21% to US$5 billion, as passenger numbers grew 35% to 13.6 million and Etihad’s fleet expanded by 16 aircraft to 95 despite the shortages.
“Right now, we're trying to identify, if we want to go beyond doubling capacity in 2028, 2029, 2030, how would we do that,” Neves said in an interview.
“But it's just an exercise. It's our obligation to constantly analyse what we have in the market.”