Air Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE)' third national airline (base in Sharjah) and the first no-frills airline in the Middle East anf North Africa (MENA) region, has launched a new concept of air travel to the region focused on online booking with the first flight at the end of October.
Adel Abdullah Ali is its new ceo. He was formerly vice-president for customer services at Gulf Air and regional general manager, and has 23 years' experience.
The airline's operational capital will total Dh50 million to be paid by the two founding partners, the Sharjah Aviation Department with 60 per cent and the Sharjah International Airport Authority with 40 per cent.
Air Arabia was established in February 2003.
Air Arabia, based in Sharjah, has agreed to lease Airbus A320-200 aircraft for its inaugural flights. The airline will take delivery of one used aircraft in September 2003 and one in October 2003; CFMI CFM56-5A1 engines will power both aircraft. The airline intends to add four new A320-200s, to either supplement or replace the first two aircraft, depending on traffic levels and the composition of the route network.
All aircraft will be leased from International Lease Finance Corporation. Initial destinations, subject to government approvals, include Baghdad, Bahrain, Beirut, Doha, Kuwait, Muscat, Damascus and Tehran.
INFO:
[email protected]
Project Group, Air Arabia, PO Box 132 Sharjah - United Arab Emirates
Air Arabia to start with Airbus fleet from October 28
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Low-cost airline? A320: capacity 189, configuration 150...
The new airline will be the third national carrier from the UAE, said Mr Adel Ali, former vice-president of Gulf Air, now chief executive of the low-cost airline Air Arabia.
While Gulf Air is the national carrier of Abu Dhabi, and Emirates that of Dubai, Air Arabia will be the national carrier of Sharjah, he said.
This will be the first low-cost airline owned by a Gulf country.
Ali said the airline would offer high quality service using brand new A320 aircraft, to be leased from Airbus Industrie.
"Those who want food on board can buy it separately. We shall be operating an all economy class airline."
Though the A320 has a capacity of 189, Air Arabia will have a configuration of only 150 economy class seats to make seating very comfortable, said Ali.
"The airline will have a total of 150 employees, including a multi-national cabin crew. We are in the final stages of recruitment."
Ali, 43, had worked for British Airways (BA) for two decades, before joining Gulf Air in January 2001 as its vice-president - commercial and customer services.
He took up the senior management position with the national carrier, after resigning the senior position of BA's Middle East and North Africa operations general manager.
(So he started very young in the airline business, that gives him a long experience at young age
)
While Gulf Air is the national carrier of Abu Dhabi, and Emirates that of Dubai, Air Arabia will be the national carrier of Sharjah, he said.
This will be the first low-cost airline owned by a Gulf country.
Ali said the airline would offer high quality service using brand new A320 aircraft, to be leased from Airbus Industrie.
"Those who want food on board can buy it separately. We shall be operating an all economy class airline."
Though the A320 has a capacity of 189, Air Arabia will have a configuration of only 150 economy class seats to make seating very comfortable, said Ali.
"The airline will have a total of 150 employees, including a multi-national cabin crew. We are in the final stages of recruitment."
Ali, 43, had worked for British Airways (BA) for two decades, before joining Gulf Air in January 2001 as its vice-president - commercial and customer services.
He took up the senior management position with the national carrier, after resigning the senior position of BA's Middle East and North Africa operations general manager.
(So he started very young in the airline business, that gives him a long experience at young age
)Air Arabia to offer lowest fares
Air Arabia, the third airline to operate from the UAE, will have the lowest air fares in the market.
The marketing manager is a she*: Jyotsna Kaur Habibullah said the operating costs would be kept low. A series of cost-saving strategies have been adopted to control operating costs. These include operating one type of aircraft - resulting in saving on training, maintenance, spare parts and crew training; faster turnaround of aircraft - maximum aircraft utilization; optimum crew utilization, ticket-less airline - helping save on cost of printing processing and handling traditional airline tickets.
A return fare to Bahrain would be Dh336 including taxes.
She said the airline would operate two Airbus A320 planes currently and will be expanding with the acquisition of two more by March 2004.
Air Arabia will be the first airline in the Middle East to fly ticketless. The passenger is only given a confirmation number. Bookings can also be made over the internet using .
The flight schedule:
Outbound Flights Effective Dates
FROM TO DEP ARR DAY OF OPS FROM TO
SHARJAH BAHRAIN 2130 2125 Tue 28-Oct-03 28-Oct-03
SHARJAH BAHRAIN 1120 1115 Mon, Wed, Sat 29-Oct-03 19-Nov-03
SHARJAH MUSCAT 1120 1230 Tue, Thu, Sun 30-Oct-03 18-Nov-03
SHARJAH KUWAIT 1600 1640 Mon, Wed, Fri 29-Oct-03 19-Nov-03
SHARJAH TEHERAN 1600 1730 Thu, Sun 30-Oct-03 16-Nov-03
SHARJAH BEIRUT 2130 2250 Thu, Sat 30-Oct-03 15-Nov-03
SHARJAH DAMASCUS 2130 2250 Wed, Fri 29-Oct-03 19-Nov-03
Inbound Flights Effective Dates
FROM TO DEP ARR DAY OF OPS FROM TO
BAHRAIN SHARJAH 2210 0005* Tue 28-Oct-03 28-Oct-03
BHARAIN SHARJAH 1200 1355 Mon, Wed, Sat 29-Oct-03 19-Nov-03
MUSCAT SHARJAH 1315 1425 Tue, Thu, Sun 30-Oct-03 18-Nov-03
KUWAIT SHARJAH 1725 2005 Mon, Wed, Fri 29-Oct-03 19-Nov-03
TEHERAN SHARJAH 1815 2045* Thu, Sun 30-Oct-03 16-Nov-03
BEIRUT SHARJAH 2335 0455 Thu, Sat 30-Oct-03 15-Nov-03
DAMASCUS SHARJAH 2335 0455* Wed, Fri 29-Oct-03 19-Nov-03
* That's how they recrute: Selection for employment to Air Arabia is based upon fair and widely acceptable criteria without reference to the applicant's race, colour, gender, age, nationality, ethnic or national origin, marital status, disability or religion. Air Arabia selects the best and most suitable person for the job.
Cannot be said of every Middle East Airline. Congratulation for that!
Expansion plans?
Hi Danny, Beirut seems the closest they come your way for the moment.DannyVDB wrote:Hi, Do they intend to fly also to Europe in the near future ? Danny
But after the acquisition of two more Airbus A320 by March 2004, we'll see what their expansion plans are.
I'll keep in touch.
Re: Air Arabia to offer lowest fares
SN30952 wrote:That's how they recrute: Selection for employment to Air Arabia is based upon fair and widely acceptable criteria without reference to the applicant's race, colour, gender, age, nationality, ethnic or national origin, marital status, disability or religion. Air Arabia selects the best and most suitable person for the job.
Cannot be said of every Middle East Airline. Congratulation for that!
Indeed... it is was worth mentioning it ! ! ! BeN