Category Archives: Flydubai

flydubai opens Pisa as its third Italian destination, resumes Catania and increase Naples flights

flydubai, the Dubai-based airline, has inaugurated the first flight to Pisa, becoming the first UAEs airline to connect Tuscany with Dubai. The flight will operate three times a week from Dubai International Airport (DXB) to Pisa International Airport (PSA).

The inaugural flight landed on-time at Pisa Galileo Galilei Airport to a welcome from a large representation of local and national authorities: Toscana Aeroporti Chairman Marco Carrai, CEO Roberto Naldi, by Senator Massimo Mallegni, the Mayor of Pisa Michele Conti, by the President Antonio Mazzeo, by the Councilor Alessandra Nardini, by the Councilor of the Province of Pisa Cristina Bibolotti and by a large representation of the San Marco Magistracy (committed on Saturday for the Gioco del Ponte after two years of detention due to a pandemic). On the flight have travelled the flyDubai CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith, the company’s top management and representatives of the UAE press.

Marco Finelli reporting from Italy.

flydubair aircraft photo gallery:

flydubai adds Izmir to its growing network in Turkey

flydubai, the Dubai-based airline, has announced the launch of flights to Izmir in Turkey starting from June 26, 2022 with a three-times weekly service. Flights to Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport (ADB) will operate from Terminal 2 at Dubai International (DXB) on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

With the start of flights to Izmir, flydubai’s network in Turkey will grow to four points including Ankara (ESB), Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport (SAW) and Istanbul Airport (IST). flydubai will also operate summer seasonal routes to Bodrum (BJV) and Trabzon (TZX) frpm June 23 to offer passengers more options to travel this summer.

Izmir is the third largest city in Turkey located on the Aegean coast. It is known for its archaeological sites, rich heritage and its pleasant coastal climate. Its central location provides access to the most mesmerising coastal villages and beautiful beaches, ideal for a day trip to unwind and get away from the city’s urban atmosphere.

Commenting on the launch of flights, Jeyhun Efendi, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations and E-commerce at flydubai, said: “we are committed to making travel more accessible and providing more choice for our passengers. We are confident that Izmir will be a popular choice for passengers from the UAE and GCC. We look forward to welcoming our passengers on board and we hope they enjoy the flydubai experience whether they are travelling in Business Class or Economy Class.”

Flight details

Flights from Terminal 2, Dubai International (DXB) to Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport (ADB) will operate three times a week on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Emirates will codeshare on this route offering passengers more options for connections through Dubai’s international aviation hub.Return Business Class fares from DXB to ADB start from AED 8,900 and Economy Class Lite fares start from AED 1,900.

In other news,flydubai has announced that it is expecting a record number of passengers to travel during the Eid Al Fitr break. The carrier has seen an increase in demand for flights to its popular destinations which includes Baku, Colombo, Istanbul and Maldives as well as some of its more recently launched destinations such as Ljubljana, Salzburg and Tirana.

The carrier has increased capacity on some of its popular routes for the upcoming break like Baku, Tbilisi, Maldives and Sarajevo to accommodate the increase in demand over the busy Eid travel period. More than 2,200 flights are scheduled to operate between April 30 and May 8, 2022, a significant increase from the carrier’s regular scheduled operations. The anticipated seat factor on flights to routes such as Almaty, Budapest, Colombo, Kathmandu, Naples and Yerevan is between 80⁺% and full capacity over the next two weekends.

The carrier has seen an increase in bookings for special Holidays by flydubai packages over the period, with passengers choosing bundled hotel stays and excursions to suit their preferences whether travelling in Business or Economy.

flydubai launches flights to Pisa in Italy and resumes operations to Catania in Sicily

flydubai, the Dubai-based airline, has announced the start of flights to Pisa in Italy, becoming the first UAE carrier to operate this route from Dubai. The carrier will also resume its operations to Catania in Sicily growing its network in Italy to three points including Naples.

Flights to Pisa International Airport (PSA) and Catania International Airport (CTA) start on 24 June with a three-times weekly service. Emirates will codeshare on these routes and the flights will operate from Terminal 3 at Dubai International (DXB), offering travelers more seamless connections through Dubai’s international aviation hub.

Pisa is a city in Italy’s Tuscany region best known for its iconic Leaning Tower. The region in central Italy is home to some of the world’s most recognizable Renaissance art and architecture, including Michelangelo’s “David” statue, Botticelli’s works in the Uffizi Gallery and the Duomo basilica. Its diverse natural landscape encompasses the rugged Apennine Mountains, the island of Elba’s beaches on the Tyrrhenian Sea and famous olive groves and vineyards.

Passengers traveling on a Boeing 737 MAX aircraft can enjoy more comfort and an enhanced travel experience. The new cabin offering features a flatbed in Business Class and, in addition to the extra space and privacy, passengers can sleep comfortably during their flight. Economy Class offers new RECARO seats, which are designed to optimise space and comfort so passengers can sit back, relax and enjoy their flight.

flydubai’s Boeing 737 MAX aircraft also features exceptional inflight entertainment with a full HD, 11.6-inch screen, with a wide selection of movies, TV shows, music and games in English, Arabic and Russian. Passengers can enjoy complimentary seatback inflight entertainment in Business Class or purchase affordable inflight entertainment packages when traveling in Economy Class.

Flight details

Flights from Terminal 3, Dubai International (DXB) to Pisa International Airport (PSA) will operate three times a week on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

Return Business Class fares from DXB to PSA start from AED 11,000 and Economy Class Lite fares start from AED 2,500. Return Business Class fares from PSA to DXB start from EUR 2,500 and Economy Class Lite fares start from EUR 530.

Flight Number	Departure Airport	Arrival Airport	Departure Time	Arrival Time	Flight time
FZ 1295	DXB	PSA	07:15	12:00	06:45
FZ 1296	PSA	DXB	13:00	21:30	06:30

All Times Local

Top Copyright Photo: Flydubai Boeing 737-9 MAX 9 A6-FNC (msn 60983) BFI (Brian Worthington). Image: 957198.

flydubai aircraft slide show:

flydubai aircraft photo gallery:

Emirates and flydubai celebrate four years of strategic partnership

Emirates and flydubai mark four years of strategic partnership. The Dubai-based airlines joined hands in 2017 and since then, more than 8.3 million passengers have enjoyed seamless connectivity across the joint network. Emirates Skywards – the loyalty program for Emirates and flydubai – continues to grow its global membership base, offering more than 27 million members exclusive rewards and benefits.

Photo: Flydubai Boeing 737-8 MAX 8 A6-FMS (msn 60994) BFI (Nick Dean). Image: 954800.

flydubai is ‘closely monitoring’ situation in Afghanistan

flydubai announced it was “closely monitoring” the situation in Afghanistan and would make changes to its schedule from Dubai to Kabul according to Gulf News.

flydubai resumes its operations to Italy

flydubai has announced the resumption of its operations to Naples in Italy.

The three weekly flights to Naples International Airport (NAP) will commence on July 1, 2021 and offer passengers from the UAE more options for travel this summer.

From June 2, 2021, a quarantine-free travel corridor has been established between Italy and the UAE enabling passengers to travel between the two countries with less restrictions. A negative COVID-19 test result will be required 48 hours before departure from the UAE. On arrival in Italy, all passengers over the age of two years will be required to take a rapid antigen test. The safe travel corridor with Italy is the latest in a series of agreements signed by the UAE including those with Bahrain, Greece and Serbia.

flydubai will increase the frequency of flights to Naples to a four-weekly service from August 1, 2021.

Flights to Bodrum and Trabzon in Turkey will start from June 4 and June 24 respectively. The carrier will commence flights to Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt from June 15 and to the Greek islands Santorini and Mykonos from June 18. flydubai will also restart its operations to Batumi in Georgia and Tivat in Montenegro from June 25 and both destinations offer UAE residents visa on arrival.

Top Copyright Photo: Flydubai Boeing 737-8 MAX 8 A6-FMK (msn 60981) BFI (Nick Dean). Image: 953947.

Flydubai aircraft slide show:

flydubai adds Sharm El Sheikh to its network

flydubai, the Dubai-based airline, has announced the launch of flights to Sharm El Sheikh.

The carrier will operate three weekly flights to Sharm El Sheikh International Airport (SSH) from June 15, 2021. The route will become flydubai’s second destination in Egypt alongside Alexandria Borg El Arab International Airport (HBE).

The launch of flights to the popular resort city follows the launch of several holiday destinations brings the number of seasonal routes served by flydubai to seven destinations including Bodrum and Trabzon in Turkey, Batumi in Georgia, Mykonos and Santorini in Greece and Tivat in Montenegro.

flydubai will restart its operations to Batumi in Georgia and Tivat in Montenegro from June 25, 2021and both destinations offer UAE residents visa on arrival. Flights to Bodrum and Trabzon in Turkey will start from June 4 and June 24 respectively with flights Mykonos and Santorini starting on June 18, 2021. The carrier plans to start flights to Naples in Italy and Salzburg in Austria from July onwards.

Top Copyright Photo: Flydubai Boeing 737-8 MAX 8 A6-FMM (msn 60985) BFI (Joe G. Walker). Image: 953802.

Flydubai aircraft slide show:

flydubai invests in enhancing its onboard experience

flydubai, the Dubai-based airline, showcases the latest developments to its onboard experience at this year’s Arabian Travel Market (ATM). The carrier’s redesigned passenger experience and added onboard offering reflect its agility and commitment to meeting the changing travel needs of customers.

flydubai’s passenger experience has been redesigned to enable travel in a safe environment that minimizes crew and passenger contact and offers passengers confidence to travel at every step of their journey. Passengers who book a flight through flydubai.com will receive complimentary global cover for COVID-19 related costs to offer greater peace of mind when traveling.

Daniel Kerrison, Vice President Inflight Product at flydubai, said: “the onset of the pandemic in 2020 has reshaped the way people travel and the way airlines operate. We have taken all necessary precautionary measures to safeguard our passengers and that meant doing things differently. We temporarily discontinued our onboard duty-free sales, altered the meal service to individually packed meals, disabled our touch screens and limited movement in the cabin. A year on, we have gradually and safely reintroduced some of the onboard services and continue to add new features to enhance our onboard experience.”

flydubai has introduced a complimentary inflight entertainment streaming service to its fleet of Next-Generation Boeing 737-800 aircraft earlier in May. The new innovative digital streaming solution is powered by Global Eagle, the carrier’s WiFi connectivity provider.

Passengers traveling on one of flydubai’s 36 Next-Generation Boeing 737-800 aircraft can enjoy complimentary inflight entertainment streamed wirelessly to their personal mobile devices, laptops and tablets. This will replace the seatback entertainment system in the economy cabin.

Passengers traveling in Business Class will continue to enjoy complimentary access to flydubai’s Inflight Entertainment (IFE) on their dedicated HD touchscreens with audio content, games and a selection of more than 150 TV series and films from Arabic cinema, Bollywood, Hollywood, Russian cinema and many more.

Commenting on the launch of the new content streaming service, Daniel Kerrison, Vice President Inflight Product at flydubai, added: “flydubai is committed to meeting the needs of its passengers. Inflight entertainment and WiFi connectivity have become an essential part of the travel experience. The new complimentary streaming service will enable more passengers to stay entertained for the duration of their flights. We will add more content in additional languages in the coming few months.”

“We are very pleased that WiFi connectivity is now available on 40 of our fleet of 50 Boeing 737 aircraft. Whether they prefer to stay connected for the duration of their flight, or opt to disconnect and enjoy our inflight entertainment, passengers can now enjoy more options from flydubai. We continue to invest in technology and enhancing our product offering. Over the next few months, we will roll out more services including our new online eShop for passengers to pre-purchase a selection of hundreds of products VAT-free, to be delivered to their seat during the flight. We will also see the introduction of Bluetooth headphone pairing on our Boeing MAX aircraft allowing passengers to bring their own headphones and connect wirelessly to our award-winning seat-back entertainment system,” added Kerrison.

10 aircraft in flydubai’s fleet of 14 Boeing 737 MAXs have returned to passenger service since April 8, 2021 having met all the regulatory requirements.

Passengers travelling on a Boeing 737 MAX aircraft can enjoy more comfort and an enhanced travel experience. The new cabin offering features a flatbed in Business Class and in addition to the extra space and privacy, passengers can sleep comfortably during their flight. Economy Class offers new RECARO seats, which are designed to optimize space and comfort so passengers can sit back, relax and enjoy their flight.

flydubai’s Boeing 737 MAX aircraft also features exceptional inflight entertainment with a full HD, 11.6-inch screen, with a wide selection of movies, TV shows, music and games in English, Arabic and Russian. Passengers can enjoy complimentary seatback inflight entertainment in Business Class or purchase inflight entertainment packages from as little as AED 15 when traveling in Economy Class.

In addition, the Boeing Sky interior with its gently-sculpted sidewalls and its smooth-flowing lines provides passengers with a more relaxing travel environment.

Video:

Top Copyright Photo: Flydubai Boeing 737-8 MAX 8 A6-FMM (msn 60985) BFI (Joe G. Walker). Image: 953802.

flydubair aircraft slide show:

flydubai loses $194 million in 2020

flydubai has issued this financial report for 2020:

flydubai remains well positioned as a result of its agility and flexibility

Annual Results for 2020

flydubai on May 2, 2021, announced its Annual Results for the reporting period ending 31 December 2020
Reports a loss of AED 712.6 million (USD $194 million)
flydubai reports total annual revenue of AED 2.8 billion (USD $773 million) compared to AED 6.0 billion (USD $1.6 billion) in 2019; a decrease of 52.7%
During the course of the year, the airline completed two financing facilities amounting to AED 283 million (USD $77 million) for general corporate purposes
Carries 3.2 million passengers

Key factors impacting Full-Year Results for 2020: the COVID-19 pandemic and MAX aircraft

In the first two months of 2020 the business fundamentals continued to be strong
Over a 5-week period, the airline’s operations were severely impacted by the increased closure of international borders and the suspension of flights due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Navigating through the pandemic: severely curtailed flight operations for 14 weeks between 24 March and 07 July
Coupled with the effects of the pandemic, performance was also impacted by the 22-month grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft
This heavily impacted the financial performance from mid-March, continued into the second quarter and resulted in a loss of AED 545.2 million for the six-month period ending 30 June
The strategy defined at the start of the pandemic to develop alternative revenue sources and contain costs gained momentum during the third and fourth quarters minimizing the second half loss to AED 167.4 million
The government created a safe environment for tourism and this increased demand contributed to flydubai’s recovery in the second half of 2020. It is expected to continue in 2021

Statements on the 2020 Annual Results

Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer at flydubai, commenting on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on flydubai’s 2020 Annual Results, said:

“The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted us more than any other crisis. We fully recognize that it is the priority of governments to ensure the health and wellbeing of its people. The effects of the travel restrictions that were put in place to safeguard against transmission of the virus have heavily impacted the aviation industry.”

Hamad Obaidalla, Chief Commercial Officer at flydubai, commenting on how flydubai adapted to the changing situation, said:

“During the course of last year, we adapted quickly to the changing situation and supported governments with their repatriation efforts helping them to make arrangements for their citizens to return home. We were also conscious of our role to contribute to the easing of the strain on the supply chain. We enabled the movement of essential goods across our network dedicating 11 aircraft for cargo operations at the peak of the pandemic. We redesigned our customer journey and launched our passenger partnership enabling travel in a safe environment. We were ready to launch flights as soon as the airspace opened growing our network to 65 destinations by year end; a considerable achievement in a complex period for the airline industry. We also achieved a seat factor of 73% in spite of these challenges.”

Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer at flydubai, commenting on the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, said:

“The ongoing impact of the grounding of the MAX aircraft required our Engineering and Maintenance Team to put an active aircraft storage program in place. The resulting 18 hours of maintenance per aircraft each week placed additional demands on their already extensive workload. We are grateful for their hard work and dedication which has ensured that the aircraft were meticulously preserved and ready to return to service in the best condition. The range and efficiency of the MAX aircraft would have been beneficial to exploring additional revenue opportunities during this challenging period.”

Note: flydubai put the Boeing 737 MAX back into service on April 8, 2021.

Francois Oberholzer, Chief Financial Officer at flydubai, commenting on the financial measures taken by the airline, said:

“During a demanding year for the aviation industry, we optimized all possible revenue generating opportunities and we took early measures to control our costs and preserve liquidity. We redoubled our efforts in cost improvement, deferred capital expenditure and raised new financing facilities. The proactive steps we took at the start of the pandemic enabled the airline to end the year with cash assets, including pre-delivery payments, of AED 2.5 billion.”

Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer at flydubai, commenting on the 2020 Full-Year Results, said:

“The challenges we faced in 2020 meant that there were difficult decisions to be made. The priority however was to protect our employees. I fully recognize that in order to be able to achieve this our employees had to take periods of unpaid leave or work at reduced salary levels. I fully recognize that this created some hardship, but it has meant that we have been able to maintain employment levels. I would also like to thank our financial partners, our lessors and suppliers for the understanding and support they have shown towards us. We managed the combined effects of the pandemic and continued grounding of the MAX aircraft on our operations, but undoubtedly they have had a severe impact on our Results.”

Key performance and operational figures

	^{Reporting period for} ^{31 December 2020}	^{Reporting period for} ^{31 December 2019}
Key performance figures for:
Total annual revenue	^{AED 2.8 billion (USD 773 million)}	^{AED 6.0 billion (USD 1.6 billion)}
Total annual loss for 2020 Total annual profit for 2019	^{(AED 712.6 million)} ^{(USD 194 million)} ^–	^– ^{AED 198.2 million} ^{(USD 53.9 million)}
Total cash assets including pre-delivery payments	^{AED 2.5 billion}	^{AED 2.6 billion}
RPKM (% growth)	^(63.4%)	^(11.4%)
ASKM (million)	^9,594	^25,415
Passenger numbers	^{3.2 million}	^{9.6 million}
Ancillary revenue % of revenue comprising baggage, cargo and inflight sales	^13.4%	^8.9%
Fuel costs % of total annual operating costs. Reduction mainly due to the quantity consumed	^14.6%	^{25.8 %}
Fleet size	⁵¹	⁵⁹
Average aircraft age	^{5 years and 1 month}	^{4 years and 4 months}
Number of flights operated	^27,450	^73,233
Total number of destinations on the network	⁶⁵	⁹³
Total number of countries on the network	³⁷	⁴⁷
Total number of employees	^3,796	^3,922
Number of employees on unpaid or voluntary leave	^1,092	^–

Outlook statement for 2021

Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer at flydubai, commenting on the outlook for 2021, said:

“We have shown that flydubai is well placed to identify new opportunities and get up and running quickly by deploying our narrow-body aircraft. We expect trading conditions to remain challenging and the business fundamentals remain strong. This is recognized by our shareholder and we are grateful for their continued confidence and commitment.”

“We would like to acknowledge the government’s response to the pandemic and the efforts that have been made to allow the travel and leisure sectors to reopen. Precautionary safety measures are in place on board our aircraft, at the airport and at hotels to keep us all safe whilst allowing the industry to recover.”

“Through the efforts we are making across our customer journey and the launch of new destinations for the summer travel is possible and we are there to support our customers to realize their travel aspirations.”

flydubai destinations from Dubai: