Etihad Airways has flown into 2008 in style enjoying its highest-ever daily passenger figures during the first days of the New Year.

In a hat trick of wins on Thursday (January 3), Friday (January 4) and Saturday (January 5),  the Abu Dhabi-based airline carried nearly 19,000 passengers each day, with average seat factors of 88 per cent across its network to break the carrier’s record loads.

The best performing routes included a number of Etihad’s recently launched destinations such as Singapore, Brisbane and Sydney which were 96 per cent full during this period.

James Hogan, Etihad Airways’ chief executive, said: “There is always strong demand for flights during the festive season, but the first few days of the new year have been phenomenal and follow a very strong end to 2007.'

'Once again we are seeing the growing importance of Abu Dhabi as a major global hub, with Etihad connecting record numbers of customers from all corners of the world.'

Flights to Europe and North America proved especially popular with the UAE’s expatriate community during the festive period.

Flights to Dublin, Brussels and Manchester enjoyed seat factors above 90 per cent, while New York flew at 89 per cent full and Toronto 87 per cent full.

Destinations in the Far East region performed strongly with Bangkok and Jakarta operating with seat factors of more than 90 per cent.

Top performing destinations in the Middle East and Africa included Johannesburg, Damascus and Amman which achieved seat factors of 92 per cent, 77 per cent and 79 per cent, respectively.-TradeArabia News Service