Etihad Airways will fly a larger aircraft from Manchester to Abu Dhabi during the busy Christmas period to cater for high levels of demand from northern travellers.

The airline will upgrade one of its twice daily flights, switching from a 262 seat Airbus A330-200 to a 412 seat Boeing 777-300ER – a capacity increase of 57 per cent.

The bigger plane will operate between the two cities for the whole of December.

Etihad Airways will also introduce a range of special holiday packages to the sun soaked Abu Dhabi.

A Manchester Airport spokesperson said: “We are delighted to welcome the increased winter capacity at Manchester Airport to Abu Dhabi and beyond.

“Since launching, the route has proved to be incredibly popular with passengers and we are sure the larger aircraft will perform very well.

“We are attributing the extra demand to the success of our Fly Manchester campaign, which has seen dedicated activity across our catchment area, to win back the 4four million plus people who choose to travel to congested London airports, when the routes operate here in Manchester.

“The extra capacity is also a sign of increased confidence in the north of England.”