Record passenger growth for Etihad in 2008

Etihad Airways announced that it topped off an "impressive year" in 2008 with a record rate of passenger growth.

The national carrier of the United Arab Emirates transported more than six million passengers last year – 34 per cent more than in 2007.

In its fifth year of operations, the airline also took delivery of nine new aircraft and signed a record order of $43 billion (£29.7 billion) for up to 205 more planes at the Farnborough Airshow.

Etihad's international network was expanded to include six new destinations in 2008 - Beijing, Chennai, Moscow, Almaty, Minsk and Kozhikode.

James Hogan, the airline's chief executive, said: "Despite the impact of the global economic downturn, Etihad performed extremely well in 2008 and we hit our target of flying more than six million passengers during the year.

"Etihad now has a flight network of 50 global destinations, with an average seat factor of 75 per cent, which is an impressive achievement in just five years of operations."

The busiest day of all for Etihad last year was December 19th, when it flew a record 20,937 passengers to destinations all over the world.

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