Etihad Airways serves 86 passenger and cargo destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas, with a fleet of 70 Airbus and Boeing aircraft, and over 90 aircraft on firm order, including 10 Airbus A380s, the world's largest passenger aircraft. Etihad Airways has started the new year by setting a record for the number of passengers carried across its worldwide network in a single day. The record was set on Jan. 5, 2013 when 33,802 passengers flew with the Abu Dhabi-based airline, beating the previous record of 33,766 set on July 14, 2012. Etihad Airways capped an impressive festive holiday season with Jan. 3 and 4, 2013 also entering the airline's top 10 ranking for busiest ever days, with 32,622 and 32,918 flying each day respectively. Two dates in January have also entered Etihad Airways' top 10 for highest ever load factors. Flights across the airline's network were 89.2 percent full on Jan. 5 (#4 in the top 10) and 88.1 percent full on Jan. 4 (#9 in the top 10). James Hogan, Etihad Airways' President and Chief Executive Officer, said: “It has been a busy start to 2013 for Etihad Airways and it is highly satisfying to beat our previous record for passengers carried in a single day.” Last week Etihad Airways announced it had flown total of 10.29 million in 2012, an increase of 1.88 million passengers from 2011. “Etihad Airways carried record numbers of passengers in 2012, was voted World's Leading Airline at the World Travel Awards for an unprecedented fourth consecutive year. Our challenge is to build on these achievements during the coming 12 months,” Hogan added. — SG
