Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has won the finance category of the Airline Strategy Awards, one of the industry’s most coveted awards.

The award, announced in front of the world’s leading airline figures atLondon’s The Honourable Society of Lincoln’sInn, recognised the strategic contribution the finance team has made to the success of Etihad Airways.

The award was accepted by James Rigney, Etihad Airways Chief Financial Officer, who said:

Our expert team plays a key role in the business achieving its financial goals, most notably in beating Etihad Airways’ break even target in 2011 to record the airline’s first ever profit.

The Airline Strategy Awards, which were launched by the international magazine Airline Business, recognise excellence in boardroom leadership, covering a unique set of industry categories across leadership, marketing, environment, technology and finance. The awards are also designed to recognise the role that management talent plays in shaping future success for their airline.

Etihad Airways’ finance team has played an important part in supporting the rapid growth of the airline while developing strong financial planning, procurement, cost control and financial governance through the implementation of cost benchmarking, budgeting and budgetary controls. Strong relationships have also been built up with the global financial markets to support Etihad’s aircraft financing, treasury and hedging activities.

The announcement of the Airline Strategy Awards continues Etihad Airways’ success at the showpiece event, which saw it win the marketing award in 2008.