Etihad Airways is keen to expand its network in the US especially on the West Coast, its president and CEO James Hogan said on Wednesday.
Hogan announced that the US is among the highest performing regions across the airline's global network, with an average 81 percent load factor in 2012.
The Abu Dhabi airline, which already flies to New York and Chicago, will launch flights to Washington DC next March and is keen to expand further in the US.
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Hogan said: "As we build our operations at Washington, DC, we are also keen to expand further in the US and are examining a number of other destinations, particularly on the West Coast.
"The point-to-point market will be supplemented by strong traffic flows over Abu Dhabi onwards to destinations across Asia, particularly the Indian Subcontinent.
"Building complementary networks to support business and passenger flows across the globe is a key part of Etihad Airways' hub strategy - the growing number of connections between the US and India is a perfect example of this."
To date, Etihad Airways has flown nearly 1.5 million passengers to and from the US since commencing services to New York in 2006 and Chicago in 2009.
Hogan was speaking during a visit to Washington DC to meet prominent local diplomats, travel industry executives, media and corporate representatives ahead of next year's launch.
The UAE is the single largest export market for US goods in the Middle East and the US is the fifth largest trade partner worldwide for the UAE, representing a total trade volume of $18.3bn in 2011.
Hogan said: "Particularly with increasing ties between the UAE and US, both government and private sector, we see a demand for premium services between the Washington DC and Abu Dhabi."
Through its agreement with American Airlines, in place since September 2009, Etihad Airways will also codeshare on connecting flights between Washington DC and Los Angeles and Dallas-Fort Worth.
Etihad Airways currently has 41 codeshare partnerships with airlines around the globe, resulting in a combined network of 327 destinations, more than any other Middle Eastern airline.
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