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Etihad Airways Passenger Numbers Grew 9pc in July

ABU DHABI — Passenger numbers of Etihad Airways grew by nine per cent to 61,6000 in the month of July, compared with the same period last year as airline reported a load factor of 88 per cent.

With new routes launched in the year, the airline operated 900 weekly flights in the month — an expansion of 20 per cent compared with the same period last year.

The highlight of the month was July 31 when a record 21,640 passengers, with a load factor of 90.3 per cent, flew with Etihad, making it the airline’s busiest day in its five-year history.

The last week of July saw an average of more than 20,500 passengers flying woth Etihad each day.

James Hogan, Etihad Airways’ Chief Executive Officer said the airline continues to attract high volumes of traffic despite the current economic challenges. “We now look forward to building upon this for the remainder of the summer holiday period and into the Holy Month of Ramadan,” the chief executive officer added.

Etihad’s flights to the Asia-Pacific region and North America turned in particularly strong performances during July with seat factors averaging more than 86 per cent, a statement issued by the airline said.

Within Europe, loads exceeded 82 per cent and in the Middle East region it was 77 per cent.

Etihad introduced three new destinations in June — Larnaca in Cyprus, the Greek capital of Athens and Istanbul, Turkey’s commercial capital, which all made an impact on July’s successful passenger numbers.

The airline also continues to expand its flight network and will launch non-stop flights from its Abu Dhabi base to Chicago in September as well as the South African city of Cape Town.

In addition to the record passenger numbers, Etihad also enjoyed its best July for on-time performance at Abu Dhabi airport with 90 per cent of flights departing within 15 minutes of the scheduled time.

This represents an improvement of five percentage points on the same period in 2008, despite a 21 per cent increase in the airline’s flying schedule.

· —haseebhaider@khaleejtimes.com