Friday, August 5, 2011

Etihad Airways puts on more flights from Manchester Airport

Etihad Airways has reached what it calls a duo of "significant milestones" at Manchester Airport.

Earlier in the week (August 2nd), the airline announced that it would now be operating 14 services each week from the north-west travel hub to its base in Abu Dhabi.

This is in addition to the 21 return flights that it runs from Heathrow Airport.

The other milestone announced this week by the national airline of the United Arab Emirates is that it has opened a new maintenance facility in Manchester - its second in England - which will help to create more jobs for local people.

All scheduled and non-schedule line upkeep will be conducted at the facility, with an expert team boasting 50 years' experience between them employed to manage the operations.

Etihad Airways vice-president for maintenance Jeff Wilkinson said: "Our investment in Manchester illustrates the remarkable growth of the airline, our ambition to bring key services in-house in markets we operate to and also to recruit locally."

In 2010, the airline was awarded the top slot in the World's Best First Class category by travellers voting in the annual Skytrax survey.