Etihad notches up six million passengers

Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways flew 34% more passengers last year than in 2007.

The airline carried more than six million people over the 12 months, with the average seat load factor up from 68% to 75%.

Average seat factors in business class rose to 63% during 2008 with flights to European destinations averaging seat factors of 73%.

Etihad, which has a fleet of 42 aircraft, flew a record 20,937 passengers in a single day on December 19.

The carrier launched six new routes in 2008 -" Beijing, Minsk, Almaty, Kozhikode, Chennai and Moscow -" as well as signing a record order of $43 billion for up to 205 Airbus and Boeing aircraft.

Chief executive James Hogan 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%, which is an impressive achievement in just five years of operations.-¬~