Travel Q&A: Etihad Airways CEO James Hogan

— -- Etihad Airways, the national carrier of United Arab Emirates, recently announced plans to expand in the USA by launching an Abu Dhabi-Chicago route later this year.

Etihad began flying commercially in late 2003 following a royal decree that called for developing an international carrier based in Abu Dhabi, the capital of UAE and one of seven emirates that make up the oil-rich country.

Etihad — whose name means "United" in Arabic — has since become one of the fastest growing airlines in the world. Under the leadership of James Hogan, who joined the company as CEO in 2006, its global network has grown to 50 destinations and the carrier flew more than 6 million passengers in 2008, a 34% increase over the previous year. Etihad placed one of the largest orders in industry history when it signed orders with Boeing and Airbus at the Farnborough Air Show in 2007 for $43 billion worth of planes.

Meanwhile, the carrier has earned top ratings from Skytrax for its service and other industry awards for its cutting edge in-flight entertainment system.

Hogan was in the USA earlier this month to promote Etihad's new Chicago service, scheduled to start on Sept. 2. Chicago O'Hare will be its third North American destination, following Toronto and New York John F. Kennedy.

In an interview with USA Today, Hogan said the global economic crisis has dampened demand for first class seats, but its business class is "holding strong." And despite an industry-wide downturn in premium passenger traffic, Etihad, which has never been profitable, hopes to break even by 2010, he said.

•Etihad has been adding seats aggressively, but is it filling enough of them to make a profit?

In 2008, we increased our load factors by seven percentage points to 75.5%, a level which would be welcomed by many more mature carriers. In 2009 and 2010, we expect to see further improvements in these figures, helping us reach our goal of break-even by 2010.

•The Gulf carriers have been growing pretty dramatically. What's behind it?