New destinations, aircraft fuel flydubai’s 2014 growth

Airline adds Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia to European network and five new aircraft deliveries during the rest of 2014 will support its route expansion.

By Abdul Basit

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Published: Thu 17 Jul 2014, 11:13 AM

Last updated: Fri 3 Apr 2015, 5:07 PM

Flydubai continues the expansion of its network with the announcement of two new destinations — Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Zagreb in Croatia — and five new aircraft deliveries during the rest of 2014 will support its route expansion.

The Dubai-based airline will commence its operations on newly announced destination in December this year, which will bring the number of destinations the carrier serves in the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to 26. The airline serves a total of 75 destinations with 38 aircraft. Its fleet size will reach 43 aircraft by the end of 2014.

The carrier has announced 11 new routes so far in 2014 and already started operations on four new routes – one in Saudi Arabia and three in India. Later this year flydubai will begin flights to Moscow, Russia; Shymkent, Almaty, Kazakhstan; Sarejavo, Bosnia; Zagreb, Croatia; Aden, Yemen; and Khadahar, Afghanistan.

“We remain focused on opening up underserved markets and strengthening air links from Dubai’s aviation hub to the region. The new flights to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia represent new opportunities for travel, trade and tourism for passengers in both countries and the UAE,” flydubai chief executive officer Ghaith Al Ghaith said in a statement on Wednesday.

Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at London-based StrategicAero Research, said flydubai’s increased market penetration into Eastern Europe leverages the strength of its product and network as well as the inherent demand for travel that has been overlooked by other carriers.

“This innovative and forward-looking airline has used its aggressive expansion to fuel not just its organic growth, but the initiation of new services to cities like Zagreb and Sarajevo underscores the fact that not only it is catering to demand that’s there and under served,” he said.

Flydubai will become the first carrier to operate direct flights from Dubai to Sarajevo and Zagreb. The airline is also the first Dubai-based airline to serve Almaty and Shymkent in Kazakhstan and flights to these routes will commence in September. In addition, business class will be available on all four of these routes, providing passengers with additional convenience and comfort as they travel.

Jeyhun Efendi, senior vice-president commercial (UAE, EU, ME, CIS) at flydubai, said Kazakhstan is a growing economy with a wealth of investment opportunities and exciting tourist attractions, while Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia have an abundance of nature and culture to explore.

“We are pleased to provide a direct air link to these destinations.”

The airline has the most comprehensive network of all Middle Eastern carriers to the CEE and CIS regions and has built up a network of: nine points in Russia, three points in Ukraine and two points in Kazakhstan in addition to Ashgabat, Baku, Belgrade, Bishkek, Bucharest, Chisinau, Dushanbe, Sarajevo, Skopje, Tbilisi, Yerevan and Zagreb. “The airline will ensure route expansion with more 737-800s joining the fleet and it will also improves cost of operations by spending less on fuel and offer attractive fares to entice both leisure and business class customers,” Ahmad said.

“Flydubai was the first and arguably still is the only hybrid airline offering a full end-to-end business class package that is usually the reserve of full service carriers. This growth will not just fill the flydubai coffers, it will strengthen their profitability for this financial year too,” he said.

• abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com