Two among the top 10 low cost airlines serving the Middle East

With growing demand for budget travel, HotelierMiddleEast.com's sister site ArabianSupplyChain.com took a look at some of the leading low-cost airlines that are currently serving the Middle East and surrounding areas, in no particular order. The list includes market-leaders such as Air Arabia, flydubai, Jazeera Airways, Sama, Nas Air, Bahrain Air and Airblue.

Air Arabia

Air Arabia is marketed as the Middle East and North Africa's leading low-cost carrier, with a total fleet of 20 new Airbus A320 aircraft, serving 59 destinations from two hubs in the UAE and Morocco.

Earlier this year, the airline published its financial results for the nine months ending 30th September 2009, demonstrating the long-term sustainability of its business model and appeal of its low-cost services at a time when the global aviation sector is witnessing unprecedented financial challenges.

Air Arabia's net profit for the first nine months of this year stood at Dhs337m, an increase of 6% compared to Dhs318m for the same period in 2008, excluding exceptional items. During the first nine months of 2009, the company registered a turnover of Dhs1.469bn, 2% lower than Dhs1.495bn recorded during the same period last year.

The airline served more than 2.96 million passengers during the first nine months of 2009, an increase of 14% compared to 2.6 million passengers during the same period last year. Air Arabia's average seat load factor - or passengers carried as a percentage of available seats - for the first nine months of 2009 stood at a strong 79%.

Despite the market challenges in 2009, this year has also seen several accolades for the airline, including "Best Low-Cost Airline in the Middle East" for the third consecutive year at the 2009 World Airline Awards, and "Low-Cost Carrier of the Year" by both the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) at the Aviation Outlook Asia 2009 congress in Beijing and at the Doha Aviation Summit 2009. More recently, Air Arabia's Adel Ali was selected as "CEO of the Year" by Aviation Business magazine, the leading industry title in the Middle East.

Website: www.airarabia.com

Flydubai

Flydubai celebrated its tenth route in just over six months this month when flight FZ015 touched down in Bahrain, Flydubai's second GCC destination.

The inaugural flight comes at a time of intense activity for Dubai's first low cost airline; it is less than a week since Flydubai took delivery of its sixth aircraft and less than a month after the Dubai Airshow, where financing, logistics and maintenance deals worth nearly $200m were announced.

Flydubai's twice daily flights to Bahrain (FZ015 and FZ021) leave Dubai International Airport Terminal 2 at 0715hrs and 2005hrs, and arrive at 0730hrs and 2020hrs local time respectively. The return flights FZ016 and FZ022 leave Bahrain at 0815hrs and 2105hrs arriving in Dubai at 1025hrs and 2315hrs local time respectively.

The other nine operational routes in Flydubai's growing network are: Beirut-Lebanon, Amman-Jordan, Damascus and Aleppo-Syria, Alexandria-Egypt, Djibouti-Africa, Doha-Qatar, Khartoum-Sudan, Baku-Azerbaijan and flights to Flydubai's newest destination, Kathmandu-Nepal, will start from December 15th.

The Flydubai model is simple, with customers paying only for the services they want to receive. Passengers have the option to purchase checked-in baggage in advance, weighing up to 32 kg, subject to availability. Checked baggage at the airport is also strictly subject to availability and passengers are advised to book online early to secure the space, as only pre-purchased baggage can be guaranteed.

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

Website: www.flydubai.com