Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, yesterday opened its Manchester guest contact centre with a reception for government officials and local business leaders.

Based at the Voyager Building at Manchester Airport, the guest contact centre is the airline's first in Europe and fourth in the world. It will operate in conjunction with existing guest contact centres in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and India.

The guest contact centre will provide full time employment for 160 local people, all of whom will receive extensive training in all aspects of the company's global reservations system.