Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has celebrated both its fifth anniversary of non-stop services between Abu Dhabi and Khartoum and the introduction of its fifth weekly flight on the route.

The airline commenced operations to the capital of Sudan in July 2006, and since then has carried more than 200,000 travellers and nearly 6.5 million tons of cargo on the route.

James Hogan, Etihad Airways' Chief Executive Officer, said, "Etihad is experiencing a period of rapid expansion with the launch of many exciting new destinations and the arrival of new aircraft. Our services to Khartoum have exceeded our expectations over the past five years, and we are pleased to be able to build on this success with an additional flight. Khartoum is a special destination for us due to the established cultural and commercial ties between Sudan and the UAE."

Etihad Crystal Cargo has been successfully operating freighter flights to Khartoum for more than six years. Currently cargo freighter operations between Abu Dhabi and Khartoum offer a payload of up to 46 tonnes on each flight, three times a week.

"Cargo services have been extremely successful, with the capacity being well utilized. We look forward to building on these high payloads and gaining new customers," added Mr. Hogan.

Etihad currently operates a two cabin Airbus A320-200 aircraft between Abu Dhabi and Khartoum, configured to carry 136 passengers-16 in Pearl business and 120 in Coral economy.

In addition to carrying passengers between Abu Dhabi and Khartoum, Etihad offers seamless connections to many popular onward GCC destinations and a choice of Asian destinations such as Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Manila, the Indian Subcontinent, Europe and Sydney in Australia.

The 19 staff members based in Etihad's Khartoum office work in sales, finance and operations, offering a wide variety of services including reservations and ticketing, visas to UAE, hotels and holidays packages and a dedicated corporate team.

Mohamed ElNoman, Etihad's Country Manager for Sudan, said, "Etihad has enjoyed consistently high load factors across all cabins since the launch of services between Khartoum and Abu Dhabi in 2006 and we are very proud of that success. The additional weekly flight will open new horizons for our commercial activities in the Sudan and will offer our customers more flexibility in their travel to Abu Dhabi and onto the airline's worldwide network. As well, the recently announced operations to Chengdu and Shanghai in China will add extra value for our clients from Sudan."