Etihad wins Airline of the Year award

Etihad Airways has been named Airline of the Year in the 2011 TTG Travel Awards.

The award was announced at a gala, black-tie dinner in London in front of 900 invited guests.

Etihad Chief Executive Officer, Mr James Hogan, said: "This award is further recognition of the hard work of all our staff right around the world.

"We are determined 2011 will be a watershed year for us as we strive to break even and then move into sustainable profitability.

It's the latest in a series of honours to be bestowed on Etihad, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, in recent months.

These include Etihad's Diamond First Class being judged the best in the world for the second year running by Skytrax, the aviation industry's pre-eminent global rankings system, determined by the votes of 19 million travellers from more than 100 different countries.

The TTG judges agreed Etihad was a "truly outstanding airline which offered great service and customer experience."

It also had a strong business model and had demonstrated innovation and financial success in the past 12 months, along with an effective CSR policy.