Etihad Airways adds 500,000 passengers as revenues surge 28% in first quarter

Etihad Airways continued its growth in the first quarter of 2012, with a 28% rise in revenue to $989m over the corresponding period in 2011 and passenger numbers soaring by 500,000 to 2.4m. The airline said traffic rose during the first quarter by 26.6% to 10.9bn, thanks to growth in capacity through new routes, additional frequencies, increased seat capacity and strengthening load factors. The load factor jumped by 3.8 points to 76.5%, the highest first quarter level in the airline’s history.