LONDON – 2022 has been a good year for the Dubai based premium low-cost carrier, FlyDubai. The airline has expanded its footprint in its neighbouring country Saudi Arabia and recorded $229 million in profit in the first quarter alone.
The Dubai low-cost carrier FlyDubai (FDB) will restart flying to Abha from the 23rd of June 2022 and will continue to do so on a daily basis. This means that the carrier is set to expand to over 100 destinations and 50 countries, served by a fleet of 64 Narrow-body Boeing 737s.
According to FlyDubai:
Flights to Abha International Airport (AHB) will fly daily from Terminal 2, Dubai International (DXB) as of 23rd June 2022. Return Business Class fares from DXB to AHB begin at AED 3,800 and Economy Class Lite fares begin at AED 1,500. Return Business Class fares from AHB to DXB start from SAR 3,800 and Economy Class Lite fares start from SAR 1,500.
The preliminary flight details are shown below:
Source: FlyDubai
FlyDubai in Saudi Arabia:
Abha is one of many destinations that FlyDubai will start to refly. FlyDubai has recently resumed its operations to Gassim, Ha’il and Tabuk, and has launched its twice-weekly flights to AlUla, the latest destination in its Saudi Arabia portfolio.
Destinations in Saudi Arabia have grown to nine destinations including AlUla, Dammam, Jeddah, Madinah, Riyadh, Taif and Yanbu.
Saudi Arabia borders the UAE, and therefore these two countries are very friendly to each other, in terms of political, economical and cultural ties. There is an abundance of traffic flowing constantly between these two countries.
With FlyDubai flying to regional and second-tier cities in Saudi Arabia, this allows the airline to complement its mother airline, Emirates from its hub in Dubai.
Fleet
The Dubai based airline has recently welcomed five new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft this year with a further 17 to be delivered by year’s end. This significantly supports the airline’s expansion and its growing network. Apart from making impressive expansion in Saudi Arabia,
FlyDubai will also fly to 10 additional routes from 22 June onwards and this includes flights to new destinations, Izmir and Pisa, as well as the resumption of operations to popular seasonal summer destinations such as Bodrum, Mykonos, Santorini and Tivat.
Earlier in April, the airline’s CEO stated on Arab News: “ The network expansion has been by our growing fleet as we continue to take delivery of more aircraft over the next few months”.
The Boeing MAX is FlyDubai’s flagship aircraft. It features a 15.6-inch 1080p HD built-in touchscreen for an immersive inflight entertainment experience.
Its seats are aligned in a staggered configuration, giving passengers the option to seat in the ‘couple’ configuration or solo seat. The seat is fully 180 degrees reclinable.
The airline has a total of 156 aircraft, including 39 737-8MAXs, 67 737-9MAXs and 50 737-10MAXs. These newly ordered aircraft are set to replace ageing Boeing 737-800s.
