ATW October 22 - Cathy Buyck
Air Arabia on Friday will take delivery of its first new Airbus A320 out of an order for 44 A320 family aircraft announced in 2007, Air Arabia Group CEO Adel Ali confirmed to ATW on the sidelines of the AACO AGM is Cairo this week.
The CFM56-5B-powered A320 will be deployed at its main base at Sharjah International and support "exciting" expansion foreseen in its winter schedule. A second A320 is scheduled for delivery in December and a further five will arrive in 2011. Deliveries continue through 2015.
Traffic from/to Sharjah is still growing, despite increasing LCC competition in the region, he said. "We established a good network and customer confidence. Load factors year-to date average 80% and yields remain okay. We are staying profitable."
The group will add a fourth aircraft to Air Arabia Maroc at the start of the winter schedule and intends to expand its more recent joint venture in Egypt with a third aircraft when the new terminal in Alexandria’s Borg El Arab is open for commercial operations. "Both bases are doing very well," Ali said, noting that load factors of Air Arabia Maroc’s flights are also averaging 80%. Next week, the carrier will also start operating from Nador, Fez, Tangier and Oujda in addition to its primary base at Mohamed V International in Casablanca. The Moroccan unit currently flies only to European destinations, under the EU-Morocco Open Skies agreement. "We would like to begin intra-African services, but we are waiting for regulatory approval," Ali said, pointing out that regulatory restrictions are also very much an issue in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) region.
"It is difficult to get the [traffic] rights in the region. We would love to add many frequencies but it is impossible. We could easily double the size of our [Sharjah base] operations in a couple of years and a lot more people would be able to fly if we have a regional open skies," he claimed. "I find the criticism [by] some carriers here [at the AACO AGM] on what they call restraints of liberalization by Western airlines and government on their operations totally inappropriate. I suggest they start putting into practice what they preach." Air Arabia wants to increase frequencies to Qatar and Saudi Arabia as well as to Pakistan and Iran.
Air Arabia on Friday will take delivery of its first new Airbus A320 out of an order for 44 A320 family aircraft announced in 2007, Air Arabia Group CEO Adel Ali confirmed to ATW on the sidelines of the AACO AGM is Cairo this week.
The CFM56-5B-powered A320 will be deployed at its main base at Sharjah International and support "exciting" expansion foreseen in its winter schedule. A second A320 is scheduled for delivery in December and a further five will arrive in 2011. Deliveries continue through 2015.
Traffic from/to Sharjah is still growing, despite increasing LCC competition in the region, he said. "We established a good network and customer confidence. Load factors year-to date average 80% and yields remain okay. We are staying profitable."
The group will add a fourth aircraft to Air Arabia Maroc at the start of the winter schedule and intends to expand its more recent joint venture in Egypt with a third aircraft when the new terminal in Alexandria’s Borg El Arab is open for commercial operations. "Both bases are doing very well," Ali said, noting that load factors of Air Arabia Maroc’s flights are also averaging 80%. Next week, the carrier will also start operating from Nador, Fez, Tangier and Oujda in addition to its primary base at Mohamed V International in Casablanca. The Moroccan unit currently flies only to European destinations, under the EU-Morocco Open Skies agreement. "We would like to begin intra-African services, but we are waiting for regulatory approval," Ali said, pointing out that regulatory restrictions are also very much an issue in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) region.
"It is difficult to get the [traffic] rights in the region. We would love to add many frequencies but it is impossible. We could easily double the size of our [Sharjah base] operations in a couple of years and a lot more people would be able to fly if we have a regional open skies," he claimed. "I find the criticism [by] some carriers here [at the AACO AGM] on what they call restraints of liberalization by Western airlines and government on their operations totally inappropriate. I suggest they start putting into practice what they preach." Air Arabia wants to increase frequencies to Qatar and Saudi Arabia as well as to Pakistan and Iran.
