Etihad is reporting a 41% rise on passenger figures for the first six months of the year compared to the same period in 2007.
The airline says its forecast of carrying 6m passengers by the end of the year is on track. From January to June it carried 2.8m people, compared to almost 2m last year.
The Abu Dhabi-based airline says it witnessed its busiest day in its four year history on June 29 when 19709 customers flew across the network, creating a seat factor of 85%.
Year-on-year Etihad has seen an increase in seat factor of nine percentage points. The airline plans to expand its fleet from 37 craft to 45 by the end of the year. It also plans to have launched non-stop flights to five new destinations – Calicut, Chennai, Belarus, Moscow and the Kazakh city of Almaty – by December.
Etihad chief executive James Hogan said: “Etihad’s performance during the first six months of 2008 has been extremely strong against a well documented backdrop of higher fuel prices and economic slow-down in parts of Europe and the Americas.
“Despite these significant challenges faced by many airlines, Etihad is not seeing any signs of a decline in demand in any of our markets or any of our cabins. Indeed our forward bookings are currently well ahead of expectations and we anticipate another very busy summer.â€
IATA reports that Middle Eastern airlines saw a 11% increase in demand in the last 12 months thanks to booming local economies, tourism development and more airport and carrier capacity.
By Dinah Hatch
