Air Arabia has announced record financial results for the full year ending December 31, 2023.
The low-cost carrier reported a net profit of Dhs1.5 billion for 2023, representing a 27 per cent increase over the Dhs1.2 billion it reported in 2022.
The airline’s turnover for the same period reached Dhs6 billion, a 14 per cent increase compared to the Dhs5.2 billion it registered in 2022.
The carrier noted that its liquidity position stood at Dhs5.2 billion in cash and cash equivalent.
In 2023, Air Arabia expanded operations across its seven operational hubs and introduced 26 new routes to its global network. It therefore took its total network size to 206 routes from all operating hubs.
This expansion it says resulted in an increase in operational capacity, which was further complemented by a 31 per cent surge in the number of passengers carried across the group, reaching a total of 16.7 million passengers.
The total operating fleet of Air Arabia reached 73 Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft across all hubs. One new aircraft was added to the airline’s main hub in Sharjah in the last quarter of 2023. Two leased Airbus A320 aircraft were also added during Q3 2023. Four short-term leased Airbus A320 aircraft meanwhile were added to its Morrocco hub during the third quarter to support the summer season operations.
The capacity available across all hubs increased by 26 per cent during 2023 compared to the previous year.
Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohamed Al Thani, Chairman of Air Arabia, said, “Despite the numerous geopolitical and economic challenges faced by the global aviation industry, the Air Arabia group managed to sustain its strong growth in 2023. This was achieved through the increase of operating capacity and the addition of new routes across our global network from all our hubs. Despite the softening in yield margins during the last quarter of the year and the ongoing challenges in the industry’s supply chain, Air Arabia demonstrated resilience by registering a solid profitability while maintaining an impressive seat load factor and growth in revenue and passenger numbers.”
Since the start of this year, Air Arabia has already announced further expansions to its network. From 28 June 2024 it will introduce a four times weekly flight from Sharjah to Athens. From 29 June 2024, it will introduce another European route by way of a daily flight from Sharjah to Kraków in Poland. Regionally, beginning 2 April 2024, it will launch a thrice-weekly flight from Cairo to Istanbul.
