Etihad Airways has been voted “Airline of the Year” at the 2008 Aviation Business Awards, the latest in a series of prestigious accolades that the national airline of the United Arab Emirates has collected in recent months. The Abu Dhabi-based airline picked up the award at a glittering ceremony at the Le Royal Meridien Hotel in Abu Dhabi, hosted by Aviation Business magazine and attended by more than 250 of the region's leading aviation professionals. James Hogan, Etihad Airways' chief executive, said: “This year has been an exceptionally busy one for the airline and international recognition such as this award confirms our position as an accomplished player on the global aviation map. “Etihad made history in July this year when we announced the largest aircraft order in commercial aviation history at the Farnborough International Airshow in the UK , a major highlight in a year which has seen record-breaking passenger loads and significant growth in our international network, aircraft fleet and award-winning achievements in our in-flight and ground product development.” Walid Akawi, ITP Business Publishing's CEO, said: “Etihad Airways has made some headline grabbing announcements during the past 12 months, establishing itself as a global brand and are the deserving winners of the Aviation Business Awards' Airline of the Year. Competition in this category was particularly fierce and difficult to judge so Etihad Airway's achievement is all the more impressive.” The Aviation Business award for “Airline of the Year” is the latest in a series of top accolades that Etihad Airways has won this year, including “Airline of the Year” at the British Travel Awards; Middle East's “Leading Airline”, “Leading First Class” and “Leading Travel Website” at the World Travel Awards; “Best Cabin Staff” and “Best Economy Class” at the Business Traveller Middle East awards and “Best Website” at the Pan Arab Web awards. This year has been marked by significant growth of Etihad's international network, aircraft fleet, passenger numbers and product development. Etihad has launched four new destinations so far in 2008, starting flights to Beijing, the Indian cities of Kozikhode (Calicut) and Chennai (Madras) as well as Minsk, capital city of Belarus. The airline will launch non-stop flights from its Abu Dhabi base to the Russian capital, Moscow on Dec. 1 and Almaty in Kazakhstan on Dec. 2. Etihad will also start flying in March 2009 to Melbourne in Australia and Lagos in Nigeria.
