Air Arabia profit rises 15%

Budget airline Air Arabia reported 15 percent increase in second-quarter net profit on Monday, as it carried more passengers.

The Sharjah-based airline made a net profit of Dh76 million ($20.7 million) for the second-quarter, compared with Dh66 million in the corresponding period in 2012, the company said in an emailed statement.

Two analysts polled by Reuters forecasted a quarterly profit of Dh82 million and Dh67.2 million each for the quarter.
Revenue for the quarter rose by 17 percent to Dh797 million, Air Arabia said.

The airline served over 3 million passengers during the first half of 2013, a 16 percent increase compared with 2.6 million passengers during the same period last year.

The company’s net profit for the first half 2013 stood at Dh134 million, an increase of 17 per cent compared to Dh115 million for the first six months of last year. During the first half of 2013, the company registered a turnover of Dh1.5 billion, up 19 per cent from Dh1.2 billion for the first half of 2012.

“Air Arabia is pleased to announce strong and solid financial performance despite on-going political turmoil in parts of the region, which continues to impact the transport sector and the regional economic growth,” said Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Al Thani, Chairman of Air Arabia.

“The airline’s commercial and operational strength have allowed it to further invest in its own growth, carry more people and register sustained and strong performance”.
Al Thani said: “We will continue to focus on our business expansion strategy which will enable us to launch new services and enter new geographies in the coming six months, while continuously offering our customers the best value for money deals”.

In the first half of 2013, Air Arabia added five new routes from Sharjah, bringing the total route network to serve 86 destinations from three operating hubs - UAE, Morocco and Egypt.

These new destinations include: Sialkot in Pakistan; Baghdad in Iraq; Abha and Ha’il in Saudi Arabia; and Yerevan in Armenia. The first half of 2013 also saw the airline increasing frequency of flights to Beirut in Lebanon, Salalah in Oman, and Dhaka in Bangladesh.

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