South Africa: Etihad Airways Carries a Record Number of Passengers and Cargo ... - AllAfrica.com

[PaperMan]

South Africa: Etihad Airways Carries a Record Number of Passengers and Cargo ... - AllAfrica.com

---

<!-- close google_banner_mid div --->

---

Biz-Community (Cape Town)

<!-- begin story layout piece here -->

19 January 2012

---

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, carried a record 8.29 million passengers in 2011, a 17% increase on the previous year. The jump represented an extra 1.197 million passengers on the carrier's global network covering 82 passenger and cargo destinations.

<!-- close google_inset_a div --->

Etihad Crystal Cargo also enjoyed similar spectacular growth carrying a record 310 000 tons, 46 875 tons or 18% more than in 2010. "This result, achieved while much of the world was still very much in the economic doldrums and oil prices remained high, is testament to our emergence as a formidable force in the international aviation arena," Etihad Airways president and chief executive officer, James Hogan, said. "It also reflects our commitment to sensible, strategic expansion which is why we launched eight new routes last year," he said.

Bangkok busiest

These were to Bangalore, the Maldives, the Seychelles, Chengdu, Dusseldorf, Tripoli, Shanghai and Nairobi. Etihad Airways' busiest route was Bangkok with the airline carrying more than 500 000 passengers to the Thai capital during the year. This was closely followed by London (479 000), Manila (446 000), and Jeddah (289 000) which represented a staggering 48% increase over 2010.

<!-- close google_inset_b div --->

Then came Sydney, Frankfurt, Paris, Manchester, Doha and Dublin to complete the list of the 10 most popular routes. "In cargo, the strongest growth was seen out of Europe as exports from markets such as Germany and Italy held firm during a challenging back half of the year," Hogan said. "We launched freighter services into Amsterdam, Cairo, Djibouti, Kabul and Kandahar during the year, increased operations to our key markets of China and


http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=...90885.html