Etihad was named a Finalist in the Best Long Haul Airline of the Year category at the 2025 Travelling for Business Awards, recognition for the airline that has made Abu Dhabi a byword for refined intercontinental travel.
The UAE's national carrier has always taken the quieter path to excellence. Where rivals shout, Etihad polishes: cabins across every class designed with restrained elegance, service that anticipates rather than performs, and at the summit of it all
The Residence - the three-room suite in the sky that remains one of commercial aviation's most extraordinary creations, a statement of what the airline believes flying can be.
For UK business travellers, Etihad's services from London and Manchester open the Gulf, Asia and Australasia through Abu Dhabi's impressively efficient
Zayed International Airport - a hub whose calm transfer experience has become a genuine selling point against the region's busier alternatives. The airline's
stopover programme, which has seen remarkable growth, turns that connection into an asset, letting travellers fold the UAE capital's galleries, dining and Grand Prix glamour into a working itinerary at little cost.
Voters also recognised a carrier that thinks about every passenger. Etihad and Abu Dhabi Airports have joined the global
Hidden Disabilities Sunflower network, training staff to support travellers with non-visible conditions - the kind of substantive, unglamorous commitment that distinguishes genuine hospitality from marketing. Add a loyalty programme in Etihad Guest known for inventive redemptions, and the proposition rewards attention at every level.
The 2025 title went to Singapore Airlines, with Etihad shortlisted alongside Emirates - a Finalist field that pitted the Gulf's two great carriers against Asia's finest, and confirmed Abu Dhabi's champion among the world's elite.
The fleet embodies the philosophy: Etihad's A350s, 787s and returning A380s offer some of the quietest, most efficient cabins aloft, with business class studios that favour genuine rest over gadgetry. Network growth has returned with discipline rather than swagger, adding destinations where demand is real - and for UK travellers timing trips around the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the airline turns a business calendar fixture into a highlight.
As the Travelling for Business Awards look towards 2026, Etihad remains the connoisseur's Gulf airline: less ubiquitous than its neighbour, prized by those who know it precisely for that - and flying, on this evidence, with the confidence of a carrier whose best chapters are ahead.
