Del Torchio, previously the CEO of motorcycle maker Ducati, was recruited last year to help bring the struggling flagship carrier back to profit.
The airline said its second quarter net profit amounted to Dhs173 million ($47.1 million), up from Dhs76 million in the corresponding period in 2013.
In addition to Etihad’s investment, which will pay for a 49 per cent stake in the Italian carrier, shareholders also agreed to a 300 million euro capital hike.
Emirates was the chief noisemaker at the recently concluded Farnborough International Airshow, confirming its ambition to be a long haul leader.
The deal foresees Etihad taking a 49 per cent stake in Alitalia and investing 1.2 billion euros ($1.6 billion) in the airline over the next three years.
The Dubai-based carrier will add a second daily service to Morocco from September.
The growth in passenger traffic was mainly due to the temporary shift of almost 600 flights from Dubai International during the runway upgrade project.
The Dubai-based airline said it will continue to operate flights to Basra and Baghdad.
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa, that has killed 932 people so far, could be one of the biggest challenges this year for some airlines, said IATA.
The incident, which led to the closure of the northern England airport for 25 minutes, briefly sparked fears of a terrorism attack.
New services to the ‘windy city’ provide Emirates with new destination and transfer opportunities
The aircraft maker said it had delivered 352 planes between January and July, including 16 A380 superjumbo aircraft.
The low-cost carrier will fly to Tehran from August 11 and Mashhad from August 10.
The new concourse will be connected to an existing terminal by an automated train.
The Ebola outbreak, which began in Guinea and has spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone, has killed more than 700.
As global aviation body IATA puts responsibility for airspace risk assessment on governments, analysts say urgent action is needed.
Lufthansa’s second-quarter operating profit was $480.9 million, far below the average forecast.
Rolls-Royce alarmed markets in February by announcing there would be a pause in profit growth in 2014, thanks to declining U.S. and European military budgets.
The global aviation industry has called for controls on the design, manufacture and deployment of anti-aircraft weapons following the MH17 tragedy.
The aircraft fell from an altitude of 10,000 metres to zero in about three minutes, a steep fall given the size of the plane.
Etihad’s plans to take a 49 per cent stake in the Italian carrier has been held up by disagreements over Alitalia’s debt pile and plans for job cuts that have stoked outrage among Italian unions.
The planemaker has projected a need for 27,000 new pilots and 29,000 new technicians annually, as per its latest report.
Airlines have been rethinking flight routes since the downing of MH17 flight, earlier this month over a rebel-held area of eastern Ukraine.
The airline has been cutting down the number of routes it operates over the last few years, squeezed by regional unrest and tough market competition.
Emirates also suspended all its flights to Kiev and none of its planes fly over the Ukraine airspace.
Three civil aviation disasters within a span of eight days led to 464 fatalities this month.
Both carriers have been in talks for months, but a final agreement has been held up by negotiations over job cuts and a debt restructuring at Alitalia requested by Etihad.
The flight crashed in the West African state of Mali killing all 118 people on board.
The official did not give further details about where the plane crashed or what caused the accident.
Aviation authorities lost contact with the plane 50 minutes after take-off.