UAE National Airline Opens 'Guest Contact Center' at UK's Manchester Airport

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has announced the opening of a “guest contact center” at Britain's Manchester airport. The new facility, which will employ 160 local people, will offer reception for visiting government officials and local business leaders. The contact center, which will be based at the airport's Voyager Building, it will be the airline's first in Europe and fourth in the world. The airline already operates guest contact centers in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and India.

Potential employees of the airline's new contact center will receive extensive training in all aspects of the company's global reservations system. The company says it chose Manchester for its European guest contact center because the city has the right mix of languages and skills sets, according to Zawya.com.

Etihad Airways is relatively new to Manchester airport. The airline began operating daily flights from Abu Dhabi to Manchester in 2006, and opened a state-of-the-art premium lounge at the airport in late 2010. The airline, founded in 2003, carried 8.3 million passengers last year.

James Hogan, Etihad Airways' president and CEO, said, “The opening of the Etihad Airways Manchester guest contact center further demonstrates Etihad Airways' commitment to the north of England. We are delighted to be able to provide further employment opportunities for the people of Manchester while at the same time ensuring we are ideally positioned to meet the needs of passengers throughout Europe for the foreseeable future. We very much look forward to strengthening our already close ties to the city of Manchester over the coming years.”