Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, is celebrating a year of “record-breaking success” after achieving its highest ever passenger and cargo volumes in 2013.

Nearly 12 million people flew with Etihad Airways last year, marking a significant increase of nearly 16 percent in comparison to 2012’s figure of 10.3 million.

Bangkok was once again the airline’s busiest route, with a total of 742,759 passengers flying to Thailand’s capital in 2013, a year-on-year increase of seven percent.

Manila was the second busiest route (547,068 passengers), followed by London (544,564 passengers), Jeddah (373,651 passengers) and Paris (338,969 passengers).

Etihad Airways carried 73 percent of the more than 16.4 million passengers who traveled through Abu Dhabi airport in 2013. With the addition of the airline’s equity alliance partners that operate flights into Abu Dhabi, the combined total rises to 79 percent of passenger traffic at Abu Dhabi airport.

James Hogan, president and CEO of Etihad Airways, said: “Our record-breaking numbers in 2013 reflect the continued success of our strategic master plan, which focuses on three fundamental pillars — organic network growth, the forging of codeshare partnerships and minority equity investments in other airlines.

“As the national carrier of the UAE, we also continued to support Abu Dhabi’s growth as a leading international travel hub, while facilitating trade to and from the country.”

Six destinations were introduced to Etihad Airways’ network in 2013, with new services launched to Washington DC in March, Amsterdam in May, Sao Paulo and Belgrade in June, Sanaa in September and Ho Chi Minh City in October.

Frequencies were also increased on 18 existing routes last year and new codeshare agreements signed with Kenya Airways, Air Serbia, South African Airways, Belavia, Korean Airlines, Air Canada and airBaltic.

During 2013, Etihad Airways also expanded its codeshare and equity partnerships.