Etihad Airways chief executive James Hogan has won the prestigious title of “Aviation CEO of the Year” at the CEO Middle East Awards 2008.

Hogan, who joined Etihad in September 2006 and has more than 25 years of experience in the aviation and travel industries, received the award at a glittering ceremony at the Raffles Hotel in Dubai.

More than 300 companies from all sectors of business across the region were reviewed for the various awards, with three nominations short-listed for each of the 15 categories.

“Etihad has enjoyed an extremely fruitful year and I am very proud to lead such a strong and talented workforce with the terrific support of the board of directors,” Hogan said. “I look forward to the year ahead which will see Etihad launch its first flights to Moscow and Melbourne and several others which we’re finalising plans for, expand further our fleet of aircraft and continue to look at ways of improving customer service.” Etihad has continued its rapid expansion throughout 2008 and by the end of the year will have a flight network of 50 destinations, seven of which launched in the last 12 months. The airline is also on target to carry more than six million passengers.

James Hogan, along with Etihad’s chairman Dr Sheikh Ahmed bin Saif Al Nahyan, signed one of the largest aircraft orders in commercial aviation history in July at the Farnborough air show in the UK for up to 205 aircraft in a deal worth US$43 billion, at list prices.