Flydubai reports "incredible year” in...

Passenger numbers were up 30% for the carrier, which now reaches more than 120 destinations

Being crowned ‘Airline of the Year’ for the first time at The Aviator Middle East Awards, Flydubai finished 2023 on a high.

Since commencing operations in June 2009, last year saw the carrier achieve several other milestones.

Flydubai carried more than 4.5 million passengers during the summer of 2023, a 30% increase compared to 2022.

The airline also inaugurated and relaunched flights to 17 destinations, including Ashgabat, Cairo Sphinx, Corfu (seasonal), Kabul, Krabi, Milan, Mogadishu, Neom, Olbia (seasonal), Pattaya, Poznan, Shymkent and St Petersburg.

Further expanding its reach, the airline entered into two new codeshare agreements with Air Canada and United Airlines, joining its ongoing strategic partner Emirates.

Notably, the airline claims to have opened up routes to 75 previously underserved markets that did not have direct air links to and from Dubai.

In addition, Flydubai added 13 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft to its fleet, and placed a US$11bn order for 30 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, diversifying its current fleet of all-Boeing 737 aircraft.

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Flydubai now has a network of more than 120 destinations in 54 countries across Africa, Central Asia, the Caucasus, Central and South-East Europe, the GCC and the Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent and South-East Asia served by a fleet of 84 aircraft.

Chief executive officer Ghaith Al Ghaith hailed it “another incredible year”, saying: “The strong foundations we have developed were reflected in yet another strong financial performance with a record profit for 2022. This exceptional performance demonstrated what we can achieve and raised the bar even higher for 2023.”