Etihad To Invest $10bln in New Aircraft Over Five Years: CEO

Etihad Airways plans to invest $10 billion in new aircraft over the next five years to accelerate expansion, lifting its fleet target to 200 jets by 2030 from the previously planned 170.

“If we talk about the capital deployment that we are going to have in the next five years, we are going to be investing $10 billion in new aircraft or $2 billion per year,” Etihad Group CEO Antonoaldo Neves said, speaking at the Dubai Airshow 2025. “We have another $37 billion coming from our own cash flow generation, so essentially it’s on us to finance our growth.”

The Abu Dhabi carrier, which is speculated to go public in 2026, is ready to roll out its IPO as needed, Neves confirmed.

“We are ready to go. We could go public anytime,” he said. “But that is not an objective function that we have as a management or as a board. When companies usually go public it is to finance growth. We don’t need that.” Abu Dhabi sovereign investor ADQ retains full ownership of Etihad, which reported 20% year-on-year growth and a 25% increase in September.

The airline plans to add 20 new aircraft annually in 2025 and 2026 and has placed an order for 32 widebody Airbus aircraft at the airshow, following an earlier order of 28 Boeing widebody aircraft earlier this year.