Etihad Airways celebrates record-breaking 2013 with double-digit passenger and cargo growth

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, is celebrating a year of record-breaking success after achieving its highest ever passenger and cargo volumes in 2013.

Nearly 12 million people flew on the airline last year, marking a significant increase of nearly 16 per cent in comparison to 2012’s figure of 10.3 million, Etihad said in a statement.

Bangkok was once again the airline’s busiest route, with a total of 742,759 passengers flying to Thailand’s capital city in 2013, a year-on-year increase of 7 per cent. Manila was the second busiest route (547,068 passengers), followed by London (544,564passengers), Jeddah (373,651 passengers) and Paris (338,969 passengers).

Etihad Airways carried 73 per cent of the more than 16.4 million passengers who travelled through Abu Dhabi airport in 2013. With the addition of the airline’s equity alliance partners that operate flights into Abu Dhabi, the combined total rises to 79per cent of passenger traffic at Abu Dhabi airport. James Hogan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Etihad Airways, said: “Our record-breaking numbers in 2013 reflect the continued success of our strategic master plan, which focuses on three fundamental pillars; organic network growth, the forging of codeshare partnerships, and minority equity investments in other airlines.