Air Arabia's Net Profit Soars to AED 160 million in First Half 2008

Sharjah-based low cost airline Air Arabia's net profit for the first half of this year stood at AED 160 million, an increase of 39% compared to AED 115 million for the first six months of 2007. Air Arabia's net profit for the second quarter of this year reached AED 82 million, up 14% compared to AED 71.7 million for the second quarter of 2007.

During the first half of 2008, the company registered a turnover of AED 871 million, up 70% from AED 513 million for the first half of 2007. Air Arabia's turnover for the second quarter of this year reached AED 487 million, up 79% compared to AED 272 million for the second quarter of 2007.

The airline served more than 1.6 million passengers during the first half of 2008, a 33% increase compared 1.2 million passengers during the same period last year. Air Arabia served some 866,272 passengers in the second quarter of this year, up 34% compared to 646,000 passengers in the second quarter of 2007.

For the first six months of this year, Air Arabia's average seat load factor or passengers carried as a percentage of available seats stood at an extremely impressive 86%, up 3.6% compared to the same period in 2007.

"During a period of unprecedented challenges for the global aviation industry as a result of the continuously soaring oil prices, we are extremely proud of these results, which demonstrate Air Arabia's ability to continue to deliver sustained growth and excellent returns to our investors. We believe that Air Arabia enjoys the proper model and infrastructure needed to remain amongst the most profitable airlines in the world," said Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Al Thani, Chairman, Air Arabia.

"Focusing on organic expansion and operational reliability, Air Arabia will remain committed to providing comfort, convenience and value-for-money service to our passengers, and continually upgrading our destination network to serve the widest number of cities in the Middle East, North Africa, South and Central Asia," he added.

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