Etihad Airways reported a sharp increase in first-quarter profit on Thursday, helped by an increase in passenger revenue, ahead of possible listing of the Abu Dhabi carrier.

The airline, which over the past seven years has gone through a massive restructuring, including overhauling its management, reported a profit after tax of 526 million dirhams ($143 million), up from 59 million a year earlier.

Revenue rose 21% to 5,739 million dirhams for the January-March quarter helped by a 41% rise in passenger numbers to 4.2 million.

CEO Antonoaldo Neves told Reuters in March the state-owned airline was improving transparency, governance and its balance sheet to be ready for an public listing should its Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund owner, ADQ, decide to list it.

Bloomberg has reported ADQ, which took over Etihad in October 2022 and appointed Neves as its CEO, is considering an IPO for the airline as early as this year.

($1 = 3.6728 UAE dirham)

(Reporting by Gulf bureau; editing by Jason Neely)