Etihad shrugs off world aviation woes with record traffic

Etihad Airways, Abu Dhabi’s state-owned airline, carried a
record number of passengers and cargo in 2011 as it added flights and eight new
routes.

The airline, which last month announced it was increasing its stake
in Air Berlin to 29.2 percent, said Sunday it carried 8.29 million travellers
last year, up 17 percent from 2010.

Etihad’s Crystal Cargo unit transported 310,000 tons, an
increase of 18 percent, the company said in an emailed statement.

The traffic growth was achieved while “much of the world was
still very much in the economic doldrums and oil prices remained high,” CEO
James Hogan said in the statement.

The airline’s busiest route was to Bangkok during 2011, with
more than 500,000 passengers flying to the Thai capital. This was followed by London with 479,000 travellers,
Manila with 446,000 passengers and Jeddah with 289,000 travellers during the 12
months.

Sydney,
Frankfurt, Paris, Manchester, Doha and Dublin completed the list of Etihad’s 10
most popular routes, the airline said.

Within cargo,
the strongest growth was seen out of Europe, bolstered by exports out of
Germany and Italy, said Hogan.

Etihad
reported a 28 percent rise in revenue to $1.72bn for the first half of 2011,
putting it on target to generate its first net profit in 2012.