Etihad Airways has started the New Year by setting a record for the number of passengers carried across its worldwide network in a single day. The record was set on Saturday 5 January 2013 when 33,802 passengers flew with the Abu Dhabi-based airline, beating the previous record of 33,766 set on Saturday 14 July 2012. Etihad Airways capped an impressive festive holiday season with Thursday 3 and Friday 4 January 2013 also entering the airline's top 10 ranking for busiest ever days, with 32,622 and 32,918 flying each day respectively. Two dates in January have also entered Etihad Airways' top 10 for highest ever load factors. Flights across the airline's network were 89.2 per cent full on Saturday 5 January (#4 in the top 10) and 88.1 per cent full on Friday 4 January (#9 in the top 10). Etihad Airways' President and Chief Executive Officer, James Hogan, said: "It has been a busy start to 2013 for Etihad Airways and it is highly satisfying to beat our previous record for passengers carried in a single day." Last week Etihad Airways announced it had flown total of 10.29 million in 2012, an increase of 1.88 million passengers from 2011. Hogan added: "Etihad Airways carried record numbers of passengers in 2012, was voted World's Leading Airline at the World Travel Awards for an unprecedented fourth consecutive year. Our challenge is to build on these achievements during the coming 12 months."