The airline experienced average seat factors of 65% for the January to June period. The year-on-year seat factor increase of 20% is a result of Etihad’s continued expansion of its global flight network and the addition of five new aircraft to its fleet.

Etihad’s revenue per available seat kilometre, which airlines measure their commercial efficiency by, soared by 31%.

James Hogan, Etihad Airways’ CEO, said: “The growth achieved in the first half of 2007 demonstrates the impact Etihad is having within the highly competitive airline industry and to carry a million more passengers this year, compared with the same period in 2006, is a phenomenal achievement”.

Many of Etihad’s routes have achieved record passenger numbers in economy class. This includes aircraft which were 87% full on the Toronto service, 92% full on the Manila service and 74% full on the Damascus service.

Etihad’s business class has also seen impressive figures in the first six months of 2007 with seat factor on its London Heathrow flight achieving an average of 76% and Bangkok achieving 72%.

Following its launch in March, Etihad’s Sydney service has performed exceptionally well achieving a 68% seat factor in economy, 85 % in business and 78% in first class. More than 40,000 passengers have flown on the Abu Dhabi-Sydney sector.

Etihad’s flights to Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi in Kerala have posted figures of more than 75% seat factor since they started at the end of May.

New destinations from Abu Dhabi to Milan, Brisbane, Singapore and Kathmandu will join Etihad’s expanding flight network in the next few months.

Date posted: 07-Aug-07