Dubai-based carrier flydubai has said that it will take delivery of four new aircraft by August 2022, growing its fleet of Boeing 737s to 68, an increase of 73 per cent compared to the number it operated in the corresponding period in 2019. ​

To support its growth, flydubai has grown its workforce over the past 12 months by 20 per cent, including recruitments among its pilots and cabin crew staff. It says that it will continue to hire more personnel this year.

The airline said that it expects to carry 3 million passengers this summer, making it the busiest summer yet in its history.

It noted that it has scheduled an average of 8,500 departures per month across its network of 102 destinations from July-September 2022. It represents an anticipated 43 per cent growth in available seat kilometres (ASKM) compared to the same period in 2019, thereby exceeding pre-pandemic levels.

During the recent northern runway rehabilitation programme at Dubai International (DXB), flydubai relocated flights to more than 30 destinations temporarily out of Dubai World Central (DWC). However, earlier this week, on June 23, following the completion of the renovation programme, all its flights have returned to DXB.

From June 23, flydubai also started flying to 11 destinations including: Abha in Saudi Arabia, Batumi in Georgia, Bodrum, Izmir and Trabzon in Turkey, Catania and Pisa in Italy, Dubrovnik in Croatia, Mykonos and Santorini in Greece and Tivat in Montenegro.

In addition, it will also add frequency on some of its busy routes including Baku, Belgrade, Budapest, Ljubljana, Maldives, Prague, Salzburg, Sarajevo, Tbilisi and Zanzibar.

“While the global aviation sector has been slowly recovering from the repercussions of the pandemic, we have seen Dubai steadfast in its approach to enable the return to free flows of trade and tourism. The decisions made early on in the pandemic have enabled us to ramp up our operations to cater to the pent-up demand in record time. Our agility and preparedness, strong business model and the scheduled aircraft deliveries this year, will see that we are well placed to overcome the challenges through which we as an industry continue to navigate,” said Ghaith Al Ghaith, CEO at flydubai.

flydubai.com