Etihad Airways wins ‘World’s Leading Airline’ award for 8th consecutive year

Etihad Airways Vice President Guest Services Linda Celestino and Manager Marketing Communications Abdulrahman Al-Hadhrami accept the awards for ‘World’s Leading Airline’ and ‘World’s Leading Airline – First Class’ during the 23rd World Travel Awards held in the Maldives

Airline also picks up coveted accolade for 2016 World’s Leading Airline – First Class at the World Travel Awards

Etihad Airways has once again collected the ‘World’s Leading Airline’ award at the 23rd annual World Travel Awards (WTA) Grand Final Gala Ceremony 2016. 

This marks the eighth consecutive year that the airline has received the prestigious accolade. The beachside event was held before an audience of the industry’s leading luminaries and international media at the idyllic Sun Siyam Iru Fushi Beach Resort in the Maldives.

Etihad Airways also received the award for ‘World’s Leading First Class’. The airline’s First Class service and hospitality offering has consistently been voted best in the world by leading publications, research consultancies and customer satisfaction surveys. The World Travel Awards are considered the Oscars of the travel industry and hundreds of thousands of WTA voters, both from within the hospitality industry and among the public at large, cast more than 1.2 million votes during the Grand Tour 2016.

Etihad Airways Chief Executive Officer Peter Baumgartner said: “Our commitment to rewriting the rulebook and transforming air travel is being recognised and rewarded year after year. We are proud to once again be receiving these two prestigious awards for what we believe to be the world’s finest airline experience.

“The World Travel Awards is an ideal platform from which we can showcase the success of Etihad Airways and also the transformation of our home, Abu Dhabi, into a global hub of commerce, culture and style.”

The awards crown a momentous year for Etihad Airways, which has celebrated a series of significant milestones in its journey to become a world-leading provider of service and hospitality. In recent years, the airline has also won numerous awards for its First Class, most recently receiving the World Travel Awards Middle East accolades for ‘Middle East’s Leading Airline – First Class’, and ‘Middle East’s Leading Airport Lounge’ for its spectacular First Class Lounge & Spa at Abu Dhabi International Airport, adding to a long list of major global award wins.

World Travel Awards President Graham Cooke said: “Once again it is Etihad Airways that leads the way in global aviation.

“World Travel Awards voters, from both within the travel industry and among the public at large, have recognised the UAE flag-carrier as the best in the business for the eighth consecutive time. It is a richly deserved honour.

“My sincere congratulations to the entire team at Etihad Airways for their continued success and I hope to see them again as we begin our Grand Tour 2017.”

Etihad Aviation gets green light to create new European airline group in JV with TUI

The Board of Etihad Aviation Group (EAG) has approved plans to create a new European leisure airline group in a joint venture with TUI AG.

The new airline group will have a fleet of around 60 aircraft, offering a capacity of 15 million seats per year. It will focus on point-to-point flying to connect key European tourist markets.

The transaction is subject to approvals by aviation regulatory bodies and anti-trust authorities.

The planned transaction includes an agreement for EAG’s subsidiary, Etihad Investment Holding Company LLC (Etihad), to acquire the 49.8% share indirectly held by airberlin in its subsidiary airline NIKI Luftfahrt GmbH.

At closing of the transaction, Etihad will immediately contribute the share in NIKI to the new European leisure airline group and will not effectively control, or become a majority owner of NIKI.

TUI will contribute its subsidiary TUIfly GmbH to the joint venture, including the 14 aircraft currently operated by TUIfly for airberlin under a wet-lease agreement.

TUI AG will hold 24.8% of shares in the joint venture company, with Etihad holding a 25% stake. The remaining 50.2% will continue to be held by the existing private foundation NIKI Privatstiftung.

The new leisure airline group, headquartered in Vienna, is scheduled to begin operations in April 2017, the start of the summer season, serving a broad network of destinations from Germany, Austria and Switzerland (Hanover, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Munich, Nuremberg, Baden-Baden, Hamburg, Basel and Vienna).

Key markets will include the Balearics, Canaries, mainland Spain and Greece.