Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has introduced its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner into commercial service. The first flight, operated by a Boeing 787-9, departed Abu Dhabi at 02:15 as flight EY23 for the seven hour 25 minute flight to Düsseldorf, Germany.Also today, Etihad revealed it carried a record number of passengers and cargo in 2014, marking its strongest operational performance to date. Almost 14.8 million passengers flew with Etihad Airways last year, a significant increase of 23 per cent over 2013 levels.![](data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHdpZHRoPSIxIiBoZWlnaHQ9IjEiIHZpZXdCb3g9IjAgMCAxIDEiPjxyZWN0IHdpZHRoPSIxMDAlIiBoZWlnaHQ9IjEwMCUiIGZpbGw9IiNjZmQ0ZGIiLz48L3N2Zz4=)