Thanks RFusmoke,
I was going to be cheeky and ask the controller but the frequency was busy
... good thing I didn't!
I remember when Etihad started flying I used to hear controllers say 'ETDxxx' instead of the word 'Etihad'.
The funny one was when after the controller had several responses after saying 'ETDxxx' the pilot responded and tried to help the controller on how it was pronounced (saying it slowly E-T-I-H-A-D xxx) but she still replied with 'ETDxxx'.
Maybe that was protocol by ATC for the new carrier but I think it was more to do with the fact that they didn't know how to pronounce the callsign properly. I'm ready to be corrected
Anyways I digress, thanks for clearing that up.