Etihad Cargo, the airfreight division of parent carrier Etihad Airways, achieved solid growth in 2015, with 592,090 tonnes of freight and mail flown throughout the year, which is a 4 percent increase, year-over-year. The airline said it was responsible for 88 percent of cargo imports, exports and transfers at Abu Dhabi International Airport last year.
While James Hogan, CEO of Etihad, hailed 2016 as a year of confident growth for the carrier and the continued “evolution of Abu Dhabi as a global aviation hub,” he couldn’t resist firing another shot in the open skies war, adding that, “we continue to face challenges, not least the protectionism of the major American and European legacy carriers.”
The carrier now offers belly capacity on six passenger routes that launched in 2015, bringing the total number to 96 on which belly-cargo services are provided. Freighter service was also added to new markets, including Dakar, Nouakchott and Doulala, bringing the carrier’s total freighter-only destinations to 20.
New global destinations that were introduced last year include Kolkata, Madrid, Edinburgh, Entebbe, Hong Kong and Dar es Salaam, and a new direct service to Brisbane. Additionally, the carrier increased frequencies on 16 existing routes, including Bangkok, Chennai, Dammam, Delhi, Hong Kong, Hyderabad, Istanbul, Jeddah, Kochi, Kozhikode, Melbourne, Mumbai, Muscat, the Seychelles, Tehran and Trivandrum.
Etihad offers a combined passenger and cargo network of almost 600 destinations including its 197 interline and 49 codeshare partners.