The 160-person center would handle nearly 2.5 million calls a year, according to James Hogan, the carrier's CEO.

In searching for a new center, Etihad looked for locations that contained an established communications infrastructure and a multilingual worker pool.

"We expect more than half of these calls to originate from non-Arabic speaking markets by 2012," Hogan said in a statement announcing the development. “As our network continues to grow, it is increasingly important for us to provide high quality, multilingual assistance for customers who choose to book directly with the airline."

Etihad first started services to Manchester in 2006, and it will increase its Manchester flights to twice-daily on August 1.