Etihad Airways bags finance award

Etihad Airways was presented the Best Finance Transformation Award 2015 by Innovation Enterprise, a leading US-based company specialising in enterprise innovation.

The award was given to Etihad Airways for its Outstation Finance Transformation program, developed to centralise the airline's processing functions to a low-cost operating environment.

Chief Financial Officer, Etihad Airways, James Rigney said, "We are proud to receive this award for the great work carried out by our financial planning team. We had a short window of six months to implement our transformation program, and the dedication to this task has allowed us to reduce finance manpower, start moving to a regional structure, and to deliver cost and revenue improvements which have delivered US$28 million in savings, with a target of a further US$50m this year."

The first phase of the Outstation Finance Transformation program needed the creation of a worldwide centre of excellence which would process transactions valued at US$ 1 billion from over fifty countries.

The second phase saw Etihad Airways adopting leading initiatives to improve key processes and eliminate bottlenecks, to ensure that the centralisation of these functions was carried out without compromising the airline's high working standards.

The Innovation Enterprise Group is a leader in the promotion of innovation in the Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) profession, and is one of the largest FP&A event organisers in the industry.

Etihad Airways began operations in 2003, and in 2015 carried 17.4 million passengers. From its Abu Dhabi base, Etihad Airways flies to, or hopes to serve, 116 passenger and cargo destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas.

The airline has a fleet of around 120 Airbus and Boeing aircraft, with approximately 200 aircraft on firm order, including 66 Boeing 787s, 25 Boeing 777Xs, 62 Airbus A350s and five Airbus A380s.