flydubai’s first flight touches down in Baku

The flight, FZ705, left Dubai at 1935hrs and arrived in Baku Haydar Aliyev International Airport at 2230hrs local time with flydubai’s CEO, Ghaith Al Ghaith to officially inaugurate this new daily service between the two cities.

HE Sultan Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economics, UAE, and Chairman of the General Civil Aviation Authority, said: “This new service is a practical example of the bilateral protocol I signed recently with the Azeri minister of transport, which includes future cooperation between our two countries in the various fields of transportation.

“We stressed at that time the importance of facilitating and increasing transportation links between Azerbaijan and the UAE. This protocol comes as a result of the fruitful meetings and great efforts exerted by the relevant government authorities in both countries in Baku in 2003 and in Dubai in 2007 to develop bilateral relations and build the foundations and cooperation framework in the transport business.”   

Ghaith Al Ghaith, flydubai’s CEO, said: “Azerbaijan’s huge oil revenues together with the growth of tourism and non-oil sectors of the economy make the country’s capital, Baku, one of the fastest growing cities worldwide and an exciting new destination for flydubai.

“Azerbaijan is rapidly becoming one of the economic leaders of the South Caucasus. The huge oil revenues and an effective economic policy implemented by the Azerbaijani government are successfully transforming the economy of the country into a force to be reckoned with on the international stage. Along with booming oil and gas sectors, Azerbaijan has growing chemical, steel, petrochemical, textile, and agricultural industries. Azerbaijan has huge natural resources as well as areas of great natural beauty and this combination ensures that the country has much to offer both the business and leisure traveller.

“We see Baku as an important economic and financial center in the Southern Caucasus and this importance is only going to increase.  We believe flydubai can contribute to the development of tourism in Azerbaijan by bringing visitors and potential investors from other parts of the world, including the United Arab Emirates. We are very pleased to be able to establish regular flights between Dubai and Baku.”

Trade between Azerbaijan and the UAE continues to grow and contributes significantly to the economies of both countries. The non-oil trade exchange between the UAE and Azerbaijan increased by 21 per cent from USD147million in 2002 to USD318million in 2006, while the total export and re-export from the UAE to Azerbaijan grew by 22 per cent from USD143million to USD316 millions.

flydubai was established by the government of Dubai in March 2008 to provide an alternative means of transport for the predominantly expatriate population of the UAE and the thousands of people who travel to and from the UAE on business every year.

Although a low cost airline, safety is the number one priority for flydubai and this commitment was demonstrated when the airline spent US$4bn on brand new aircraft from Boeing at the Farnborough Airshow in the UK last year.

The first of the aircraft arrived in May of this year and the airline began commercial flights just a few weeks later on June 1.

flydubai has now received five aircraft from the order for 50 placed with Boeing last year and the rest will continue to arrive until 2015, with the sixth aircraft due next month.

The flydubai fleet will be made up entirely of Boeing 737-800 Next Generation aircraft. This is the safest aircraft currently in operation, with a track record of more than 40 years in operation. At any one time there are 1,250 Boeing 737s in the sky somewhere in the world.

flydubai aims to make travel a little less complex, a little less stressful and a little less expensive and having a fleet of aircraft of the same type ensures the airline can cut down on maintenance and handling costs. These are savings flydubai passes on to its customers.

The airline likes to do things differently and one of the ways flydubai is different is that the price you pay includes only the basics that you need to travel, your seat on the plane, one piece of hand luggage, weighing up to 10kg and all taxes and charges. Anything else is an optional extra and is charged separately.

flydubai believes this approach to travel makes fares fairer. After all why should you pay for a meal unless you want to eat one and why should you pay to check a bag into the hold if you are only travelling with an overnight bag? This approach ensure flydubai can offer one-way fares from Baku to Dubai from as little as 165 US dollars (USD).

Passengers have the option to purchase checked-in baggage in advance at just  11 USD for the first piece and 28 USD for the second, weighing up to 32 kg. A nominal payment of 1.5 USD allows customers to select their seat and just 14 USD secures the extra legroom positions.

flydubai operates from a modernized and enhanced Terminal 2 on the north side of Dubai International Airport.