Sheikh Saad Al Abdallah Terminal becomes home to flydubai’s operations in Kuwait

The move to the terminal offers an enhanced customer experience for flydubai passengers flying in and out of Kuwait.

flydubai’s inaugural flight, FZ057, touched down at the terminal at 1330hrs  local time and was welcomed with a water cannon salute. Mr Fawaz Abdulaziz Al Farah, President of Kuwait Civil Aviation and a delegation of Kuwaiti officials received the aircraft on the tarmac.

His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and Chairman of flydubai, led the delegation that included H.E. Jamal Al Hai, ESVP for International Relations and Communications at Dubai Airports; H.E.  Tariq Al Hamed, Kuwaiti Consul General to Dubai;  Mohammed Abdulla Ahli, Director General of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority together with flydubai’s Chief Executive Officer, Ghaith Al Ghaith; Hamad Obaidalla, Chief Commercial Officer and Kenneth Gile, Chief Operating Officer.

His Highness Sheikh Ahmed said: “We are grateful to the Kuwaiti authorities for their support of the move to Sheikh Saad Al Abdallah General Aviation Terminal. The aviation links between Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates have played a significant role in boosting the already strong relationship between our two nations.  flydubai will continue to play an important role in creating free flows of trade and tourism.”

Mr Fawaz Abdulaziz Al Farah said: “We welcome flydubai and are pleased to open the doors of Sheikh Saad Al Abdallah General Aviation Terminal to passengers who will benefit from all the convenient facilities this terminal has to offer.”

flydubai’s newly introduced Business Class premium offering will be available on selected flights on the Kuwait route starting in October. Together with the move to the dedicated terminal, this will provide a greater choice for passengers, who will have access to faster check-in services, shortened queuing time at the immigration desks and a more personalized flying experience.

flydubai launched its operations to Kuwait in March 2010 with a double daily service. Three years later, the carrier transported more than one million passengers between Dubai and Kuwait and increased its frequency to eight flights a day.  The total number of flights to Kuwait increased by 62% after one year of operations, illustrating the strong demand for travel between Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

Some of the figures highlighting the remarkable growth of the Kuwait-Dubai route include:

• The overall market size has increased by 35% between 2009 and 2012, indicating flydubai’s role in stimulating demand by encouraging travel.
• flydubai’s passenger numbers for Kuwait grew by 31% in 2012. 84% of flydubai passengers travelling from Kuwait end their journey in Dubai while the remainder connects onwards to a number of destinations on flydubai’s network, including Sri Lanka, the Maldives, India and Georgia.

Note to the Editor:

• Sheikh Saad Al Abdallah Terminal at Kuwait International Airport was built in 2008.
• It serves as both a VIP private jet terminal as well as a commercial terminal.
• Divided into three zones, the terminal offers a unique product offering to economy, business and VIP passengers.
• flydubai Business Class passengers will benefit from access to four business class lounges.
• It takes an average of 25 minutes for flydubai economy passengers to go through immigration, pick up their luggage and exit the terminal and an average of 10 minutes for Business Class passengers.

Flights between Dubai and Kuwait can be purchased from flydubai’s website (www.flydubai.com), through its local office (+965 22 41 44 00) and accredited travel agents. flydubai also offers visa facilitation services to passengers travelling to the UAE. Details of the carrier’s car rental services are also available on its website.

For enquiries about flydubai Cargo, call +965 222 80422 / 80423 (lines are open from 8am to 5pm Sunday-Thursday). Customers can also contact flydubai Cargo by email on [email protected]. Emails will be responded to within 48 hours.