Etihad Airways appoints ex-Adia executive as CFO

Andrew Macfarlane, previously CFO of Dublin-based Aer Lingus, will start this week

Etihad Airways said it is carefully monitoring the current situation after the US regulator barred airlines from flying over some Iran-controlled airspace. Courtesy Etihad Airways

Etihad Aviation Group hired Andrew Macfarlane, a senior executive at Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia), as its chief financial officer as the Arabian Gulf carrier forges ahead with plans to narrow losses.

Mr Macfarlane succeeds Mark Powers, who left the company in April for personal reasons and was temporarily replaced by Etihad's head of treasury Adam Boukadida in the interim.

Mr Macfarlane will start his duties this week, an Etihad Airways spokeswoman on Monday told The National.

The new group CFO's appointment comes amid a turnaround plan at the Abu Dhabi airline to return to profitability. Etihad is undergoing a restructuring process that has entailed slashing unprofitable routes, trimming its aircraft orderbook and focusing on point-to-point routes while scrapping plans to invest in global airlines' stakes.

Mr Macfarlane was head of operations, real estate and infrastructure at Adia from August 2014, according to his LinkedIn profile. Before that, he was the CFO of Ireland's Aer Lingus  from 2009.