Etihad Sees 22% Passenger Increase in December 2024
Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has released its traffic statistics for December 2024, finishing the year with continued brisk performance.
| Dec-23 | Dec-24 | 2023 YTD | 2024 YTD | ||||||
| Passengers | 1.4 million | 1.7 million | 14.0 million | 18.5 million | |||||
| Passenger load factor | 84% | 87% | 86% | 87% | |||||
| Operating fleet size | 83 | 97 | |||||||
| Passenger destinations | 67 | 71 | |||||||
The airline welcomed 1.7 million guests during the month, a remarkable increase of more than 20% compared to the same period last year, and a load factor of 87 per cent compared to 84 per cent for December 2023.
Etihad’s Busiest Month
Antonoaldo Neves, CEO of Etihad Airways, said: “December was our busiest month, with 1.7 million passengers, a 22 percent increase from December 2023.”
Read: Etihad Cargo Boosts Operations with Over 300 Flights from Ezhou to Abu Dhabi
“In 2024, we carried over 18 million guests with a passenger load factor of 87 percent. Impressively, this marks an 80 percent increase in passenger numbers since 2022, highlighting our strong growth trajectory.”
“In December, we resumed service to Nairobi, Kenya, and look forward to starting operations to newly announced destinations.”
Etihad Cargo Expansion
Etihad Cargo has expanded its operations at Ezhou Huahu Airport, Asia’s first dedicated freighter hub.
Since its first flight on August 18, 2023, Etihad Cargo has operated 329 flights from Ezhou to Abu Dhabi, moving over 18,700 tonnes of exports and 400 tonnes of imports.
The addition of a sixth weekly flight in July 2024 and a seventh in 2025 has boosted connectivity to global markets, especially for specialized cargo like pharmaceuticals, supported by the airport’s IATA CEIV Pharma certification.
