World's Fastest Growing Airline

The world's fastest growing commercial airline is touching down for the second time in the U.S.

Etihad, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, recently launched service to Chicago. The city marks the second U.S. service destination for the airline.

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Outside of the airline's expansion in the U.S., the company announced that it seeing positive trends despite a global slowdown. Etihad CEO James Hogan told Maria Bartiromo "in the last quarter this year, cargo which is the first to decline at the start of any recession is now coming back." Hogan said "we are also starting to see improvements in passenger yields." Hogan told Bartiromo that Etihad expects to passenger numbers to rise to 7 million this year, that's an increase of 15%.

And the good news doesn't stop there.

The International Air Transport Association expects the Middle East to be the only region with demand set to grow this year.

When asked about the regional demand, Hogan told Bartiromo the airline is "seeing more and more corporate travelers move over to the Gulf and the Middle East." Hogan said "distribution of traffic is much more broader than in the U.S. and Europe" with Asia continuing to hold up.

Check out Maria Bartiromo's interview with James Hogan, CEO of Etihad.

Donna Burton contributed to this article.

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