KUALA LUMPUR: Etihad Airways is poised for consolidation and recovery this year, apart from building its reputation and continuous innovation to live up to its "World’s Leading Airline" tagline.

Etihad Airways' country manager for Malaysia, Adam Phillips, told Mail Money in an interview that the airline plans to rebuild in 2010 what it lost in 2009 and with hopes to break even in 2011.

“Last year reflected a deteriorating revenue environment for the airline industry due to the economic slowdown and the Influenza A (H1N1) pandemic. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) had forecast a US$11  billion (RM37.6b) net loss for the world’s airlines in 2009,” Phillips said.

Despite the difficulties the industry is facing globally, Etihad Airways has achieved average seat factors of 73 per cent last year.

The national carrier of the United Arab Emirates had carried 6.34 million passengers in 2009, five per  cent higher than the 6.04 million passengers it carried in 2008 across all its networks.

“We’re targeting a year-on-year relative growth, with revenue improvement and more yield in the coming years,” Phillips said.

Since Etihad Airways’ launch in 2003, the airline has added 57 destinations to its network, making it one of the fastest-growing commercial airline. In the third quarter last year, Etihad Airways launched flights to Chicago, Cape Town and Hyderabad and the airline is planning to launch flights to Japan this year.

The airline is targeting the growth of the aircraft fleet from 52 last year to 54 this year, and further increase to 60 in 2011 and 65 in 2012.

Having been given the top award at last year’s World Travel Awards, Phillips said the airline wants to deliver the concept of the World’s Leading Airline to its passengers and truly become an international world-class airline in 2020.

“It’s a competitive market out there but we focus on what we do. We don’t tend to say that a particular airline is our competitor but we’d rather try to beat the market benchmarks. The key is not to lose concentration, always examining the business and to not get carried away about what the competitors are doing,”

Phillips said,  adding that the airline is constantly innovating and upgrading its in-flight services, such as the introduction of a  new first class suite recently.

On Jan 16, Etihad Airways marked its third year anniversary in Malaysia.

Phillips said: “We’re thrilled to be coming into our third year here. There is a need to spread the message of  who we are to Malaysians. We are going to build brand recognition in the market through a host of  mechanisms.”

In its five-year history, Etihad Airways had always used sports sponsorship to build its brand, such as being the official shirt sponsor and partner of football club Manchester City, the title sponsor of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (following sponsorship deal with Scuderia Ferrari in Formula 1) and signed agreements with Chelsea Football Club.

“We’re a global airline and sports sponsorship plays a central role in Etihad’s global marketing strategy as we seek to develop our profile in markets across the world. For example, the English Premier League is not just popular in England but also in Malaysia.

Sports transcends local cultures and the brand exposure we get is encompassing and truly global."