Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, has been awarded Airbus’ top operational excellence award for its fleet of Airbus A340 aircraft.

This is the second time the UAE flag carrier has received the award.  Etihad Airways operates a fleet of four Airbus A340-500s and seven A340-600s.

Airbus found that Etihad Airways outperformed other airline fleets across a number of criteria for operational excellence over a two-year period, a statement said.

The winning criteria included, the number of revenue take offs over the last two years, the number of revenue flight hours during the same period, chargeable operational interruptions, and how quickly the airline recovered from any delays.

Etihad Airways chief operations officer, Captain Richard Hill, said: “We are delighted to receive this award for the second time for top operational excellence of our Airbus A340 fleet.

“The award is the result of the hard work of our entire technical team and our partners at Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies.  Working together, we continue to ensure that Etihad Airways’ fleet is always at the highest standards in terms of safety and reliability.”

Philippe Gourdon, Airbus vice president A330/A340 Programme Customer Services, said:  “Etihad Airways has forged a strong working relationship with Airbus and has shown a remarkable determination and commitment to ensure that the fleet is maintained at a level to support the airline’s goals of service perfection.” – TradeArabia News Service