August 2025 was a fruitful period of passenger operations for Etihad Airways, with the Abu Dhabi-based flag carrier of the United Arab Emirates carrying two million passengers in a month for the first time in its history, per a report by Simple Flying. This marked a significant year-on-year increase in traffic, with its load factor also on the up.

On a wider scale, these impressive figures also meant that, in the year to date, Etihad Airways has carried almost 20 percent more passengers from January to August 2025 than it did in the same period in 2024. The airline has also enjoyed growth in terms of its fleet and network, positioning it for a strong end to the year.

In a statement released by the UAE flag carrier, Etihad Airways announced that August 2025 saw it carry more than two million passengers in a month for the first time in its history. Compared to its total of 1.7 million passengers in August of 2024, this represents a year-on-year increase of around 22 percent.

During this time, its average load factor has also risen from 89 percent to 91 percent, with five new destinations taking its network size from 76 passenger destinations to 81. As far as its fleet is concerned, Etihad Airways’ portfolio of aircraft is 16.7 percent bigger than last year, having risen from 96 jets to 112, partially thanks to the introduction of the Airbus A321LR. This is something that CEO Antonoaldo Neves was keen to reflect on:

“The successful introduction of our A321LR in August represents a significant enhancement to our product offering, bringing First Class suites and lie-flat Business seats to medium-haul routes for the first time in the region. With 81 destinations in our network and more than 20 additional routes confirmed, we remain focused on connecting the world through Abu Dhabi.”

Year-to-date has been very successful for Etihad

Looking at 2025 as a whole, Etihad Airways’ most recent set of operational results means that from January to August of this year, the Abu Dhabi-based airline carried a grand total of 14.2 million passengers, with a load factor of 88 percent. Compared to the 12 million passengers that it carried between January and August of 2024 (with a load factor of 86%), this represents an increase of around 18.3 percent.

Commenting on its fruitful August, Etihad Airways explained that its annual growth “reflects strong demand and highly efficient capacity utilisation.” Neves also said that his airline’s performance was emblematic of “the trust travellers place in our people and the extraordinary service they deliver every day.”

As noted in the table above, Etihad scheduled more than 8,800 flights last month, offering over 2.2 million seats and almost 6.2 billion available seat miles in the process. Its top destinations from its main hub at Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) were Delhi (DEL), Jeddah (JED), Kuwait (KWI), London Heathrow (LHR), Mumbai (BOM), and Riyadh (RUH), each of which saw four daily round trips.

News follows Etihad Airways’ strongest-ever half-year performance

Readers familiar with the recent fortunes of Etihad Airways will be aware that the announcement of its August milestone is not the first piece of good news that the Abu Dhabi-based UAE flag carrier has shared with the world this summer. Indeed, last week, it also revealed that H1 saw its best-ever half-year results.

As reported at the time by Simple Flying, Etihad Airways carried a grand total of 10.2 million passengers between January and June of this year, representing a 17 percent increase when compared to the same period in 2024. Its post-tax net profits saw even greater growth, rising by 32 percent amid its ongoing expansion.

In order to support this impressive growth, Etihad really went to town on its recruitment drive in the first half of the year, onboarding 125 new pilots and 1,100 new flight attendants. Going forward, it will hope to continue this impressive growth trajectory and, when the time comes, be able to announce equally good full-year results.