Flydubai posts Dh37.3M profit
The airline carried 10.9 million passengers in 2017, up 5.5% from previous year.
dubai — Low-cost carrier flydubai reported on Wednesday Dh37.3 million annual profit in 2017, up from Dh31.6 million a year before, on the back of a 9.2 per cent growth in revenue to Dh5.5 billion.
The airline said it carried 10.9 million passengers in 2017, up 5.5 per cent compared to the previous year.
Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of flydubai, said the results demonstrated the key role the carrier continues to play in the development of trade and tourism in the UAE. “2017 also saw flydubai place its third and largest aircraft order illustrating its contribution to Dubai as a centre of aviation and represents the scale of the ambition planned for the airline.”
On the expanded codeshare announced last year, Sheikh Ahmed said in its early stages, the partnership with Emirates has enjoyed a significant response from passengers who recognise the benefits of travelling around the world on a single ticket. “As the opportunities presented by the codeshare progress it will create new passenger flows going forward.”
Ghaith Al Ghaith, chief executive officer of flydubai, said the oil price continues to shape the business landscape and it remains a fine balance between fares, yields and passenger growth.
“Despite the socio-economic environment we have seen across our network, we have record numbers of passengers travelling with us as well as sustained growth in our revenue.”
He said the introduction of new and more fuel-efficient aircraft into the fleet would be a positive influence and result in greater benefit as more Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft join the fleet. “We know how important aviation is to the business landscape and we remain confident about the road ahead.”
Arbind Kumar, senior vice-president, Finance of flydubai, said the airlne’s persistent and rigorous approach to cost management continues to ensure that the business remains robust to support our sustainable growth over the next few years.” The carrier said eight new aircraft joined the fleet including two next-generation Boeing 737800 and six Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. For the first time since the airline was launched in 2009, the airline retired four aircraft in line with its fleet management policy to maintain a young and efficient fleet. Looking ahead, flydubai announced the launch of 10 routes, which will start operations during the first six months of 2018 and will further enhance connectivity across its network.
The airline will take delivery of seven aircraft during the course of the year.
In 2017, flydubai contributed 27 per cent of the total growth at Dubai Airports for the GCC market; contributing 29 per cent of overall traffic to the region.
Saj Ahmad, an analyst at London-based StrategicAero Research, said flydubai’s growth strategy has seen the airline grow profitability to $10.1 million versus $8.6 million for the same period a year ago — but critically, the expanding airline has grown its revenue base by over 9 per cent to almost $1.4 billion.
“This not only highlights the inherent success of flydubai’s dual hybrid product offerings incorporating a new state of the art business class cabin, but it highlights the fact that the airline is pulling in higher revenue paying passengers to fill these seats and drive revenue up. This is matched with almost 11 million passengers flown in the last year – up almost 6 per cent over the previous year,” Ahmad told Khaleej Times.
“With Dh2.4 billion on hand in cash, flydubai is exceptionally well positioned to continue its planned investments across the new 737 Max family with additions of the 737 Max 9 and 737 Max 10. These bigger airplanes will allow the carrier to serve more popular markets like Russia with more passengers and thus make pricing even more attractive,” he added.
Ahmad said integration and collaboration with Emirates would further enhance the cross-feed of traffic between the two partners and its very likely that 2018 will be a year of solid results and growth into existing and new city pairs. ‘Given the swathe of routes that flydubai has opened up to date, the fuel efficient 737 MAXs will give the airline far more impetus to capture more market share and remain the GCC’s number one low cost airline,’ he said.
— issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com