Net profit at the company increased by 41% to $103 million with revenue up 19% to $9 billion last year.

Comparisons with 2014 are not on a like-for-like basis as these figures were only for the airline. In 2015 the company decided to reorganise itself into a combined travel and aviation group.

Despite this the airline remains central to the company’s success. Last year it carried 17.6 million people, which represented an 18.9% increase.

James Hogan, Etihad Airways president and chief executive, said: “A fifth year of net profits, with our best annual financial performance to date, shows that we are delivering against that goal.

“Our profitability clearly demonstrates the success of our business strategy, based on organic growth boosted by our partnerships."

During the period, six new destinations – Kolkata, Madrid, Hong Kong, Entebbe, Edinburgh and Dar es Salaam – were added to its network with capacity increases on a further 16. The fleet increased by 11 to 121.

Etihad isn’t just a single airline, it has almost 50 codeshare agreements and a number of minority investments, which it said “remained a key driver” of growth in 2015. The company has a stake in other airlines, including airberlin, Alitalia and Virgin Australia.

Revenue across this global network increased by 22.1% to $1.4 billion.

Earlier this year, Etihad relaunched its tour operator business.