Etihad Airways’ CEO has expanded on the company’s intentions to double its fleet and triple the number of passengers it carries by 2030.

Antonoaldo Neves initially revealed the Abu Dhabi-based airline’s plans in a recent Reuters interview, when he said that the airline intended to focus on medium- and long-haul routes, rather than ultra-long-haul.

The expansion plans are an apparent U-turn from the airline’s previous strategy, when it declared its intention to downsize to a medium-sized airline. It currently has a fleet of around 70 aircraft but wants to get to 150 by the end of the decade. It is aiming for 30 million passengers annually by 2030, up from 10 million in 2022. It aims to carry 13 million this year.

Neves detailed some of the company’s plans at the Arabian Travel Market trade show held May 1-4 in Dubai. The former CEO of Portuguese flag-carrier TAP, Neves was appointed as Etihad CEO in October 2022. He succeeded Tony Douglas, who had overseen the downsizing of Etihad while simultaneously considerably strengthening its balance sheet.

Etihad plans to grow by 10% annually over the next seven years in terms of passengers carried and available seat kilometers, Neves said in a lengthy interview with Abu Dhabi newspaper The National.

The airline aims to connect travelers from China, the Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia and the Gulf region to destinations in Europe and the U.S. East Coast via its Abu Dhabi hub. This will require a restructuring of its network over the coming years.

Neves says increasing frequencies to major European cities would strengthen the network, while point-to-point traffic would increase demand for visiting Abu Dhabi. The emirate, one of seven that make up the UAE, has been placing increasing emphasis on tourism in recent years. Neighboring emirate Dubai has become a major global tourism hub.

Neves says he is now aiming to expand Etihad sustainably. The carrier’s Abu Dhabi government shareholder “has set the aspirations very high” and says it is time to “grow again” after the airline’s downsizing over the last five years.

Etihad had to aim to become one of the world’s best airlines, outpacing other airlines that were similarly trying to improve their offerings, he says.

“We need scale to do that, and our customers want scale. They don’t want us to have only one flight a day to Paris or Geneva. Size matters here, as long as we’re profitable,” he adds.

He says the short-term goal is to restructure the route network and structure the carrier’s banks of flights in the process.

Etihad plans to increase its fleet to 150 planes by 2030. It aims to have 80 in service by year-end. This year, it will induct 15 additional aircraft. Most will be aircraft coming out of storage post-pandemic, but there will also be three new Boeing 787s.

“I don’t see why the airline cannot double the fleet size over the next seven years. The Gulf region is growing a lot, and in developing economies, the number of passengers grows twice as much as GDP on average,” Neves says.

In terms of placing new aircraft orders, Neves says that fleet growth would be undertaken “hand-in-hand” with its joint venture partner, LCC Air Arabia Abu Dhabi, which currently has eight Airbus A320-family aircraft.

“Now we’re debating how many planes we’re going to have” under each operator, Neves says.

“We’re going to have to use the ... planes coming from our [existing] orders, but we will need more planes, and when it’s the right time, we’re going to get these new orders,” Neves adds. “But I’m not in a hurry to do that.”

Neves says passenger travel demand is “extremely strong” in both the leisure and business sectors, with unexpectedly robust demand from Europe and the U.S.

“I am very confident this is here to stay,” he says.