Etihad posts new daily record for passengers

Etihad Airways has announced that it set a new record for the number of passengers carried across its worldwide network in a single day on January 5.

The Abu Dhabi carrier said it lifted a total of 33,802 passengers on Saturday, beating the previous record of 33,766 set on July 14 last year.

Etihad said in a statement that it capped an impressive festive holiday season January 3 and 4 also entering the airline's top 10 ranking for busiest ever days, with 32,622 and 32,918 flying each day respectively.

Two dates in January have also entered Etihad Airways ' top 10 for highest ever load factors.

Flights across the airline's network were 89.2 percent full on January 5 and 88.1 percent full on the previous day.

James Hogan, Etihad Airways' president and CEO, said: "It has been a busy start to 2013 for Etihad Airways and it is highly satisfying to beat our previous record for passengers carried in a single day."

Last week Etihad announced it had flown total of 10.29 million in 2012, an increase of 1.88 million passengers from 2011.

Hogan added: "Etihad Airways carried record numbers of passengers in 2012, was voted World's Leading Airline at the World Travel Awards for an unprecedented fourth consecutive year. Our challenge is to build on these achievements during the coming 12 months."