Etihad Airways has enjoyed its busiest summer period in its four-year history with more than 1.6 million passengers flying onboard the  airline’s flights during June, July and August.

Capping a hugely successful summer, a record 20,721 passengers flew with Etihad on August 1, making it the airline’s busiest day, said a statement.

The summer months also saw Etihad flights operate at an average of 83 per cent full, an increase of 46 per cent on the same period from the year before, it said.

Etihad has flown more than four million passengers across its network of 48 destinations so far in 2008, indicating that the airline is well on track to achieve its target of carrying six million passengers by the end of the year.

James Hogan, Etihad Airways’ chief executive, said: “The summer has been a great success with more than 1.6 million passengers flying with Etihad Airways.

“Whilst June, July and August are traditionally the busiest months of the year for most airlines, the record number of passengers who flew with us underlines the considerable impact Etihad is having on the aviation industry.”

Etihad’s flights to Asia services turned in a particularly strong performance during the summer with seat factors averaging 81 per cent. Passenger loads in the business cabin averaged 83 per cent for the Kuala Lumpur service and 79 per cent for the Bangkok route.

Within Europe, London Heathrow exceeded loads of 91 per cent and Munich 88 per cent. Flights to Brussels, Dublin, Manchester and Paris all achieved average seat factors of more than 80 per cent in the economy cabin.

Routes in the Middle East performed well also during the summer including Cairo and Damascus, achieving overall average seat factors of 80 per cent.

Hogan added: “As ever, we are grateful for the support we continue to receive from Abu Dhabi Airports Company, Abu Dhabi Airport Services and the Department of Transport, whose close cooperation has paved the way for Etihad to extend its global network still further, with the launch of new services to Kazakhstan and Russia in the coming months.”

Etihad introduced three new destinations in August to the Indian cities of Kozhikode and Chennai as well as the Belarus capital city, Minsk. Etihad will launch in December non-stop flights from its Abu Dhabi base to Almaty in Kazakhstan and the Russian capital, Moscow.

Etihad will also boost its flying programme to Australia in October, with an increase to its existing daily service to Sydney to 11 flights per week. The same month will also see Etihad add a third daily flight to London Heathrow, the world’s busiest international airport. - TradeArabia News Service