Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways carried 8.29 million passengers in 2011, a 17 per cent rise on the previous year.

The carrier’s network currently includes 82 destinations and the busiest route in 2011 was to Bangkok where 500,000 people travelled. The other busiest routes were London, Manila, Jeddah, Sydney, Frankfurt, Paris, Manchester, Doha and Dublin. Jeddah saw the largest increase in passengers, 48 per cent more than in 2010.

“This result, achieved while much of the world was still very much in the economic doldrums and oil prices remained high, is testament to our emergence as a formidable force in the international aviation arena,” says James Hogan, president and chief executive officer of Etihad Airways.

“It also reflects our commitment to sensible, strategic expansion which is why we launched eight new routes last year.”

The new routes include Bangalore, the Maldives, the Seychelles, Chengdu, Dusseldorf, Tripoli, Shanghai and Nairobi.

Etihad Crystal Cargo also recorded growth, carrying 310,000 tonnes, which was an 18 per cent rise on figures from 2010.

“In cargo, the strongest growth was seen out of Europe as exports from markets such as Germany and Italy held firm during a challenging back half of the year,” Hogan says.

Etihad Airways launched freighter services to Amsterdam, Cairo, Djibouti, Kabul and Kandahar in 2011 and increased operations to key markets in China and India.

The airline finalised two sale and lease-back transactions on 12 January (MEED 11:1:12).