Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has announced that it will increase its Abu Dhabi Kathmandu services from four to seven flights per week from January 2010.

The carrier currently operates four flights a week.

Etihad's flights to Kathmandu, which were launched in December 2008, have proved popular with travellers, providing high volume of traffic into Abu Dhabi and the Middle East, as well as transit traffic to destinations including London and Frankfurt in Western Europe as well as New York and Chicago in North Americeid.

Etihad has also announced the appointment of Ken Marshall as its country manager in Nepal. Based in Kathmandu, Marshall will take over from outgoing manager Kumar de Silva to oversee the airline's operations in Nepal.

The increase in frequency was prompted by the rising number of Nepali travellers who make up 80 percent of the passengers on the sector," said  Marshall.

"Kathmandu was developing as one of the key regions for airlines. The airline is increasing its services to celebrate the upcoming Nepal Tourism Year 2011," he further said. nepalnews.com