21 October 2009
Khartoum is the main city of a rapidly growing economy, and flydubai is primarily targeting business travellers as its passengers there. The carrier also hopes to attract customers from among the many expatriate Sudanese living in Dubai, as well as from employees of non-government organisations operating in Sudan, flydubai spokeswoman Heather Redpath said on Tuesday.
In particular, flydubai is eyeing employees of Sudan’s large petroleum industry, she told Khaleej Times.
“These workers operate a shift basis where they spend a three-week rotation in Sudan and then three weeks at home in their country of residence. Clearly this rotational working requires regular travel to and from Sudan,” Redpath said. Sudan is also home to big printing, glass manufacturing, food processing and textile businesses.
Flydubai Chief Executive Officer Ghaith Al Ghaith sees opportunities in what he calls an under-serviced route.
“Sudan is a country with a tremendous potential for economic development and financial growth. The country is working hard to ensure there are significant business opportunities, which are attractive to businessmen in the UAE and further afield,” he said in a statement.
“When you combine that with the existing demand from the many thousands of Sudanese resident in the UAE, it is easy to see why flydubai is excited about the prospects for this route.”
At a distance of 1,600 miles from Dubai, the flight to Khartoum will be the longest in flydubai’s network. However, the airline says it is keeping fares low with prices starting from Dh325 one way, including taxes and one piece of hand baggage weighing up to 10 kilogrammes.
“At just over four hours’ flying time, we are able to operate the return flight within one day, so this route does not present any operational or cost issues for us,” Redpath said.
Flydubai was established in March 2008 and operates five Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft. It flies now to seven cities, including Beirut, Amman, Damascus, Aleppo, Alexandria, Djibouti and Doha.
