Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has this week honoured its high flying executive Andrew Fisher. This is after his record-breaking feat of travelling around the globe in the fastest time and in the fewest number of flights. He is the vice president fleet planning at the airline.
Andrew clocked a flying time of 52 hours and 34 minutes and managed to beat the previous record by 3 hours and 13 minutes. He only used four scheduled commercial flights instead of five to achieve his lifelong ambition. The Guinness World Records has officially declared his successful attempt a world record.
Etihad Airways acknowledged Andrew’s achievement with a reception at its Abu Dhabi headquarters, where the record breaker shared a video and experience of his marathon round-the-world journey. His colleagues joined in a food fest of culinary delights from the destinations he visited.
Andrew’s journey covered 41,375 km on scheduled flights operated by Air New Zealand, KLM and China Eastern that took him from Shanghai to Auckland, Buenos Aires to Amsterdam and back to Shanghai.
“It’s an incredible feeling to have finally achieved my dream,” recalled Andrew, Etihad Airways Vice President Fleet Planning, after touching down at Pudong International Airport in Shanghai. “Although I managed only 16 hours of sleep throughout the journey, I still felt fresh, perhaps due to the adrenalin and excitement at completing this unique experience. And it’s a great feeling to be part of a company that encourages and enables its employees to pursue their dreams.”