Monday, 29 October 2007: Etihad Airways has recorded substantial growth in the first nine months of 2007 with over 3.3 million passengers having travelled with the airline.
This figure when compared to the number of travellers for the same period in the previous year reflects a growth of 70 per cent.
Chief Executive of Etihad Airways, James Hogan was impressed by the results. “The last quarter has been another strong one for Etihad with impressive growth in all passenger cabins. It’s particularly pleasing to see that growth is spread well across the network, with both new and established routes performing extremely well.
“The airline’s new winter schedule, which starts on October 28, will see us boost our weekly flight schedule by a further 29 per cent, which should see us exceed our 4.5 million passenger target by the end of this year,” said Hogan.
From June until August, Etihad cabins encountered a rise in seat factors with more than 85 per cent of the economy class full on the London Heathrow, Toronto and Manila routes.
Etihad’s business class cabin also grew a lot with seat factors on reaching an average of 82 per cent for London Heathrow flights, Toronto growing an average of 86 per cent, Sydney to 74 per cent and New York rising to 77 per cent.
Services to the Middle East have done exceptionally well with Damascus and Amman reaching seat factors of 72 and 75 per cent. Routes to northern Pakistan revealed very solid demand, with average seat factors in economy on both the Islamabad and Lahore routes of more than 90 per cent.
Etihad has launched 8 new routes in 2007, with the ninth one soon to be launched on October 28. It already flies to Sydney, Brisbane, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Milan, Dublin and will now fly to Kathmandu in Nepal, taking the total number of destinations to 45.
“As our growth continues apace I must recognise the support and close cooperation Etihad continues to enjoy with Abu Dhabi Airports Company, Abu Dhabi Airport Services and the Department of Transport in achieving these figures,” said Hogan.
