Abu Dhabi, Aug 5 - Over 616,000 people travelled by Etihad Airways, an airline of UAE in July, a nine percent increase in passenger numbers compared to the same period last year, WAM news agency reported Wednesday.

On July 31, 21,640 passengers flew by Etihad, making it the airline's busiest day in its five year history. The last week of July saw an average of more than 20,500 passengers fly aboard its planes each day.

James Hogan, Etihad Airways' chief executive, said: 'The record-breaking passenger numbers we have experienced in July demonstrate that, despite the current economic challenges, Etihad continues to attract high volumes of traffic across all three cabins on our global network of more than 50 destinations.

'We now look forward to building upon this for the remainder of the summer holiday period and into the Holy Month of Ramadan,' he added.