flydubai, the Dubai-based airline, has recorded an exceptional performance in the first quarter of 2022, building on the momentum from the tremendous performance in 2021. The carrier’s growing network and added capacity on its existing routes have been supported by new aircraft deliveries since the start of the year.
Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer at flydubai, said: “Dubai has demonstrated its ability to successfully overcome the various challenges presented by the pandemic and continues to thrive. We have continued our growth in 2022 capitalizing on the tremendous results we reported for 2021. We have seen the number of passengers carried in the first quarter of this year more than double compared to the previous couple of years as we welcomed the world during Expo Dubai 2020, connected underserved markets to Dubai and added more frequencies around the network.”
“Our strong business model, supported by our ongoing recruitment drive to grow our workforce in parallel with the scheduled aircraft deliveries this year, will see that we are well placed to accommodate the surge in demand as more people get ready to travel again over the summer”, added Al Ghaith.
Q1 2022 performance
flydubai operated 19,000 flights between January 1 and March 31, 2022 and carried 2.35 million passengers. This represents a 114 per cent increase in the number of passengers carried compared to 2021. In addition, flydubai has seen an increase in demand for connecting traffic with 43 per cent of passengers connecting on to the carrier’s network compared to 28 per cent for the same period last year. Demand for travel in Business Class continues to grow across the network, Europe saw an increase to 51 per cent in 2022 up from 39 per cent in 2021.
Aircraft deliveries
flydubai has taken delivery of four new aircraft this year, growing its fleet of Boeing 737s to 63 aircraft serving its growing network. The carrier will take delivery of 18 more aircraft over the next few months, for which financing mandates have been issued. To support this growth trajectory, flydubai is currently undergoing a recruitment drive to add more talented professionals to its workforce and this includes pilots, cabin crew and various positions across the business.
Growing network
flydubai has built an expanding network of more than 100 destinations in 50 countries across Africa, Central Asia, the Caucasus, Central and South-East Europe, the GCC and the Middle East, and the Indian Subcontinent, exceeding the number of destinations it operated to prior to the pandemic. The carrier relaunched flights to Yanbu (YNB) in Saudi Arabia in February and added AlUla (ULH) and Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen (SAW) to its growing network in March, and has also announced the start of flights to a number of new destinations including Pisa in Italy and Izmir in Turkey commencing this summer.
