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James Hogan wants Etihad Airways to be the best airline in the world by 2010. Not bad, given that just five years ago it didn't even exist. Anil Bhoyrul meets the Australian who is changing the world of airlines.

The boss of Etihad Airways is having none of it.

"I'm just not going to do that, I'm sorry, no way!" says James Hogan.

I try again, later in the interview.

"Nope, nope. I don't do that kind of stuff," he says.

Hogan, despite several more attempts during our hour long conversation, isn't willing to spread his arms out in the shape of an eagle and dance around his office for a photo shoot.

And why should he? Since taking over the Abu Dhabi carrier just two years ago, Australia's best known expatriate has taken the industry by storm.

He doesn't need gimmicks or fancy photographs when he has an astonishing set of statistics to show off: Less than five years since the first Etihad plane took off, it now flies to 45 destinations across the world.

Average seat factors are 75%. By the end of this year, it will have 40 planes.

The first quarter of 2008 saw over 1.4 million passenger board an Etihad flight, a massive increase of 40% on the year before. In 2008, it is forecast to fly more than six million people. On top of the four A380s on order, it is in talks with Boeing and Airbus to order another 100 planes for US$20bn.

You get the picture? Hogan certainly does. "The ramp up of Etihad is the fastest in aviation. history. The point that we are at, Virgin and Emirates took another three years to get to. This airline did not exist five years ago, it's quite extraordinary to think that," he says.

Hogan is riding on an aviation wave right now - half of all global aircraft orders originate from the Middle East, and at the 2007 Paris Air Show, Middle Eastern airlines announced orders worth US$50 billion. This was followed a few months later by a staggering US$100 billion worth of orders for 140 planes at the Dubai Air Show.

As for Etihad Airways, its target remains not just to break even by 2010, but by the same year, be "the best airline in the world." From zero to the best in five years - quite a tall order?

We are focused on getting to where we said we would, which is to break even by 2010 but also why not become the best airline in the word? What is stopping us?" says Hogan. He adds: "We set operating, financial and product criteria.

That is based on customer feedback and research. You never stop validating the customer and there are many ways of doing that - whether it be mystery shoppers, focus groups or your KPIs. And in the first quarter of 2008 we achieved all our KPIs. And we are on target in the second quarter."

One of the biggest growth areas for the airline has been in its business class service. According to Hogan, the premium seats on his planes are 60% sold out three months in advance - quite an achievement, given that most business bookings are last minute.

He explains: "People like flying with us. They like our business class. Do you drive a Lamborghini? It's like that, being in the top end. And our economy class, that's been rated as one of the best economy classes in the world.

We ticked all the boxes. If someone wants to fly for 14 hours to Toronto, what boxes does he want ticked? Great entertainment? Choice of meals?

Maybe he has kids - entertainment for them? We found all the boxes and we ticked them.This is a continuous improvement game. I am dealing with you, the customer - and this is your money or someone else's money and you have the option to spend it elsewhere.

For now, the focus is very much on being the best by 2010, and Hogan - a veteran of the service industry - is going back to his roots. "I look at hotels, you know, the six star hotel groups and their service delivery.

You look at the GM there, he knows who you are and is sensitive to your needs. That's the kind of service proposition that we are looking at developing.

We have just introduced beverage managers on our long haul aircraft. They are there to support the crew. You have to run it like a restaurant - you have a number of different tables and they all want to eat at different times," he says, adding: "It's about attitude, it's about can do.

We have the same can of peas but how can we be different, how can we surprise and delight? Because we are a new airline we don't have to copy, and we don't have to follow a way that we have been doing it for the past 15 years."

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