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Etihad Airways is
continuing to take delivery of aircraft with five
new Airbus planes due by the year-end.
"Etihad is expanding its global flying programme and
adding aircraft to a fleet, which will grow from the
current 37 to 42 by the end of 2008," spokesman
Thomas Clarke told Emirates Business. "The new
aircraft will consist of three A320s and two A340s."
"In 2004 Etihad began with the largest start-up
fleet order of 29 aircraft worth Dh29.4 billion and
it is now building a balanced fleet of wide-body and
narrow-body aircraft allowing it to better serve
short-haul and long-haul destinations.
"In addition to this last year we placed an order
worth more than Dh8bn for 12 airbus aircraft at the
Paris Air Show."
Clarke said the airline contributed Dh10.8bn to Abu
Dhabi's non-oil gross domestic product in 2007 and
helped generate or support 48,813 non-oil jobs in
the emirate. He said based on Etihad's current
growth projections the airline's economic
contribution to Abu Dhabi's GDP would increase by 67
per cent to Dh18.1bn by 2011 and the carrier would
help support 84,254 jobs in the emirate. By 2016 the
GDP figure is set to increase to Dh28bn with 140,565
jobs supported.
The airline yesterday released its first half-year
report for 2008, which records passenger growth of
41 per cent compared with the same period last year.
The number of passengers rose to 2.8 million from
two million.
The report says the airline is well on track to
achieve its target of carrying six million
passengers by the year-end.
CEO James Hogan said: "Etihad's performance during
the first six months of 2008 has been extremely
strong against a well documented backdrop of higher
fuel prices and economic slow-down in parts of
Europe and the Americas.
"Despite these significant challenges faced by many
airlines Etihad is not seeing any signs of a decline
in demand in any of our markets or any of our
cabins. Indeed our forward bookings are currently
well ahead of expectations and we anticipate another
very busy summer," he said.
The report reveals that Etihad witnessed the busiest
day in its four-year history last Friday when a
record-breaking 19,709 passengers flew on the
airline's network at a seat factor of 85 per cent.
2.8m passengers fly etihad in H1
Etihad Airways carried 2.8 million passengers in the
first half of the year, recording a 41 per cent
increase from a year earlier.
The Abu Dhabi-based carrier, which said yesterday it
is well on track to achieve its target of carrying
six million passengers by the year-end, achieved
average seat factors of 73 per cent across its
network of 45 destinations between January 1 and
June 30.
Etihad will also add non-stop flights to five new
destinations – Minsk, Kozhikode, Chennai, Moscow and
Almaty – from its base in Abu Dhabi.
The airline's spokesperson, Iain Burns, on Monday
said Etihad plans to place an order for between 50
and 100 aircraft at the 60th Farnborough Airshow to
be held from July 13 to 20, despite increasing fuel
prices.
"There has been exceptionally strong growth in
markets like Egypt and Jordan, which have lagged
behind in recent years; while Oman, offering a more
cultured experience than the year-round "suntan with
shopping" slogan of some destinations in the Gulf,
saw a massive rise in revenue per available room [revPAR]
in 2007, up by more than 50 per cent," he said.
Rob O'Hanlon, Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure
Partner for Deloitte Middle East, said: "So far in
2008, the region's hotels are enjoying some of the
world's highest occupancy figures, strongest revPAR
and best average room rates, and with predictions
that international visitor numbers here will grow
between 6-10 per cent in 2008, compared to a global
rate of 3-4 per cent, there seem to be few clouds to
spoil the region's sunny outlook," Omar said.
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