Media ININ Economy We Trust
Media IN/SHARJAH/6th May, 2019 (WAM)
Air Arabia today reported strong financial results for Q1 2019, posting a net profit of AED128 million for the three months ending March 31, 2019, a 16 percent increase compared to the corresponding 2018 figure of AED110 million.
The sharjah Air based carrier said in a statement on Sunday that its turnover jumped 17 percent to Dh 1.029 billion compared to 2018 first quarter.
The statement said; “More than 2.8 million passengers flew with Air Arabia between January and March 2019 across the carrier’s four hubs, an 8 per cent increase compared to a total of 2.6 million passengers carried in the first quarter of last year.”
The airline’s average seat load factor – or passengers carried as a percentage of available seats – during the first three months of 2019 stood at an impressive 84 per cent, up 3 per cent compared to the same period last year.
The Chairman said Air Arabia is driven by a clear strategy for growth, providing customers with more places to explore for less.
He added: “Oil price, geopolitical and economic developments continue to impact the trading conditions in the region, including the aviation sector. Nonetheless, we are confident of the long-term fundamentals of the aviation sector in the region, and the increased demand for affordable air travel that Air Arabia now serves across a wide geographic network in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe”.
The carrier added five new routes from its hubs in the first three months of 2019 with flights commencing from Casablanca to Lisbon and Tunis; and from Sharm Al Sheikh to Amman and Luxor; and from Sohag to Riyadh. It received its first Airbus A321 neo LR in April and announced the launch of direct flights from Sharjah to Kuala Lumpur starting July 1st, 2019. Air Arabia now serves over 155 international and domestic routes from its hubs in the UAE, Morocco and Egypt.
