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The World Travel Awards (WTA) is the annual event acknowledging excellence in the travel and tourism industry. The 2009 ceremony was held in London last month where it announced category winners that have been voted online by a jury of over 170 thousands worldwide travel experts. The awards’ numerous categories are divided into continents and specific sub-industries going from airline companies to resorts, boutique hotels or car rental companies.

Winning the World’s Leading Airline this year was Etihad Airways, the fairly recent born United Arab Emirates National Airline. Etihad Airways also won the World’s Leading First Class award whereas best Business Class prize went to Qatar Airways. Throughout the year, the Abu Dhabi based flight company has won several other important awards, all recognizing best quality in services offered including on-board catering, lounge treatment for business passengers and loyalty programme.

Eithad was founded in 2003 by sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and has based its rapid expansion strategy on quality and customer satisfaction. In less than 6 years of activity, passengers travelling with Etihad have gone from 500 thousands in 2004 to over 6 millions in 2008. Also, the United Emirates airline company has gained important visibility thanks to its marketing and sponsorship activity. Etihad is official Ferrari sponsor in Formula 1 and also promotes the Yas Marina Circuit.

At present, the company is operating around 55 destinations from Abu Dhabi to the rest of the world, including main gateways destinations such as Paris, Munich, Frankfurt and Brussels