Etihad passenger and cargo traffic record big growth

US market will help airline grow this year

Abu Dhabi Etihad Airways carried a record 8.29 million passengers in 2011, a 17 per cent increase over the previous year, the carrier said yesterday in a statement.

Meanwhile, the airline’s c a r go div i s i on, Et i ha d Crystal Cargo, enjoyed similar growth, carrying a record 310,000 tonnes of cargo last year, 18 per cent more than in 2010.

However, the airline is set to grow in 2012 due to its increasing presence in the US market, according to Saj Ahmad, Chief Analyst at Strategicaero Research.

“For the coming year, it’s likely Etihad will start to increase its presence in both North and South America as these two continents have not yet seen any saturation in traff ic coming from or going to the Middle East. And in both cases, services between the Americas and the GCC is limited,” he told Gulf News, adding that this will be a “core focus point” for Etihad throughout 2012.

Expansion

Commenting on the airl i ne’s 2011 performance, Ahmad said: “A 17 per cent rise year on year in passenger traffic has ensured that Etihad Airways’ expansion is both in tune with the continued growth of intra-gcc travel numbers and the carrier’s expanding global footprint, recently augmented with the deep investment made in Air Berlin.”

The c a r r i e r re ce nt l y made news by raising its stake in Air Berlin to 29.21 per cent, becoming the loss-making German carrier’s largest single shareholder. The deal increased Etihad’s total number of destinations to 269.

Etihad said its jump in passenger numbers represented an “extra 1. 197 mill i on passengers” on t he carrier’s global network covering 82 passenger and cargo destinations.

“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,” James Hogan, Etihad Airways President and Chief Executive Off icer, said in a statement.

He added that the airl i ne l aunched eight new routes to i ts network i n 2011 , i ncluding Bengaluru, Maldives, Seychelles, Che n gd u , Duess e l d o r f , Tripoli, Shanghai and Nairobi, with Bangkok emergi ng as i ts busiest route with the airline carrying more t han 500,000 passengers to the Thai capital during the year.

In cargo, however, the strongest growth, according to Hogan, was seen out of Europe as exports from markets such as Germany and Italy held firm during a challenging second half of the year.