Etihad Airways has been voted ‘airline of the year’ at the 2008 Aviation Business Awards, the latest in a series of prestigious accolades that the national airline of the United Arab Emirates has collected in recent months.
The Abu Dhabi-based airline picked up the award at a glittering ceremony at the Le Royal Meridien Hotel in Abu Dhabi, hosted by Aviation Business magazine and attended by more than 250 of the region’s leading aviation professionals.
James Hogan, Etihad Airways’ chief executive, said: “This year has been an exceptionally busy one for the airline and international recognition such as this award confirms our position as an accomplished player on the global aviation map.
“Etihad made history in July this year when we announced the largest aircraft order in commercial aviation history at the Farnborough International Airshow in the UK, a major highlight in a year which has seen record-breaking passenger loads and significant growth in our international network, aircraft fleet and award-winning achievements in our in-flight and ground product development.”
Walid Akawi, ITP Business Publishing’s CEO, said: "Etihad Airways has made some headline grabbing announcements during the past 12 months, establishing itself as a global brand and are the deserving winners of the Aviation Business Awards’ Airline of the Year. Competition in this category was particularly fierce and difficult to judge so Etihad Airway’s achievement is all the more impressive.”
The Aviation Business award for ‘airline of the year’ is the latest in a series of top accolades that Etihad Airways has won this year, including ‘airline of the year’ at the British Travel Awards; Middle East’s ‘leading airline’, ‘leading first class’ and ‘leading travel website’ at the World Travel Awards; ‘best cabin staff’ and ‘best economy class’ at the Business Traveller Middle East awards and ‘best website’ at the Pan Arab Web awards.
This year has been marked by significant growth of Etihad’s international network, aircraft fleet, passenger numbers and product development.
Etihad has launched four new destinations so far in 2008, starting flights to Beijing, the Indian cities of Kozikhode (Calicut) and Chennai (Madras) as well as Minsk, the capital city of Belarus.
The airline will launch non-stop flights from its Abu Dhabi base to the Russian capital, Moscow, on December 1 and Almaty in Kazakhstan on December 2. Etihad will also start flying in March 2009 to Melbourne in Australia and Lagos in Nigeria.
Etihad recently boosted its flying programme to Australia, with an increase in its existing daily service to Sydney to 11 flights per week and added a third daily flight to London Heathrow, the world’s busiest international airport.
Etihad made history in July by announcing the largest ever aircraft order at the Farnborough Airshow in the UK. The total deal for up to 205 wide-body and narrow-body planes is worth approximately US $43 billion, at list prices and comprises 100 firm orders for a combination of Boeing and Airbus aircraft.
The airline flew more than 4.4 million passengers in the first nine months of 2008 and expects to carry more than six million passengers by the end of year, with average seat factors forecast to be 75 per cent. The number of passengers has grown from 340,000 in 2004 to one million in 2005, 2.8 million in 2006 and 4.6 million in 2007.
The year also saw Etihad unveil two new premium lounges at its home base at Abu Dhabi airport. The new facilities are more than three times the size of the previous lounge and feature an exclusive new area for first class customers, as well as an improved business class lounge section.
International sports sponsorship continues to play a central role in Etihad’s global marketing strategy, with several major deals struck in 2008. Etihad strengthened its presence in Formula 1 in March 2008 with the announcement of a three-year sponsorship deal with Scuderia Ferrari. The deal complements Etihad’s existing three-year deal to be title sponsor of the Abu Dhabi Etihad Airways Grand Prix, which will run from the 2009 season.
Etihad also announced in March its sponsorship of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championships. In October, Etihad extended its growing array of international sports sponsorships to Australia in a new deal which will see the famous Telstra Dome in Melbourne re-named from early next year as the Etihad Stadium.
The Aviation Business Awards are open to individuals, companies and organisations working in the Middle East.
