flydubai celebrates more milestones at Dubai Airshow
Low cost airline continues to record excellent growth
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 — As the Dubai Airshow continues apace, flydubai, Dubai’s pioneering low cost airline, has announced its latest growth figures, proving its incredible development since launch shows no sign of slowing down.
In the 12 months to 31 October, flydubai saw a 107% increase in passengers, 83% increase in the number of routes it operates with a 122% increase in aircraft over the same period a year earlier. The rapid growth of the low cost carrier since operations began on 1 June 2009 makes flydubai the world’s fastest growing start-up airline ever.
At a press conference today, Ghaith Al Ghaith, CEO of flydubai, said: “I am very pleased to report these new figures today. flydubai has enjoyed tremendous growth since our first flight to Beirut in June 2009 and it is very encouraging to see passengers responding favourably to our new route launches. We have always aimed to connect Dubai to more cities within our region to help more people travel more often and the fact that our first flights from Ukraine, for example, were all full proves the demand is there.
“We have built a route network of more than 45 destinations and a fleet of 20 aircraft and our approach of providing high quality air travel with low fares has proved a winning formula. We have pioneered many new features since our launch, including being the first airline in the world to screen movies in high definition, and we will continue to innovate and introduce new products in the years ahead.”
In the past two weeks the airline has added another two routes to its network; Tbilisi, Georgia, and Belgrade, Serbia, and now operates more than 700 flights per week to destinations across the GCC, Middle East, Africa, CIS, Subcontinent and the fringes of Europe.
As well as adding additional destinations, flydubai has also added capacity on routes that have proved particularly popular, including Doha. Thanks to a 68% increase in traffic to the Qatari capital, the carrier has upped its flights to eight a day, benefitting both business and leisure travellers.
flydubai is dedicated to making travel more accessible and affordable, taking every step to lower costs and pass on those savings to customers. All fares are one way and inclusive of taxes, one piece of hand baggage weighing up to 7kg and a small handbag or laptop bag. Customers then pay for the optional extras they wish to receive, such as checked baggage, which starts at AED50 for 20kgs or a seat with extra legroom for AED100.
