Air Arabia announced on Tuesday that its net profit for the three months ending September 30, 2011 had dropped 26 per cent to Dh100 million from Dh136m in the corresponding period of 2010.
In the third quarter of this year, Air Arabia posted a turnover of Dh691m, an increase of 22 per cent compared to Dh568m in the same period of 2010.
The airline served 1.19 million passengers in the third quarter of 2011, an increase of five per cent compared to 1.14 million in the same period last year.
In the three months ending September 30, 2011, Air Arabia’s average seat load factor – or passengers carried as a percentage of available seats – stood at 81 per cent.
“Air Arabia is pleased to announce such solid financial performance despite continued challenging market conditions,” said Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Thani, chairman of Air Arabia. “Air Arabia’s sustained quarterly profits, high seat load factor and rising passenger traffic reflect the appeal of our services and demonstrates the strength of Air Arabia’s business model.
“The challenging markets conditions we have seen in the second quarter of this year continued in the third quarter, with a further escalation in the political turmoil in several countries and an upward trend in the average fuel bill. Despite these challenging market conditions, Air Arabia’s solid profits and steady growth reflect the airline’s commercial and operational strength," he said.
In the third quarter of 2011, Air Arabia took delivery of two new A320 aircraft from Airbus. The latest Airbus A320 arrived on schedule from the Airbus facility in Toulouse, France, marking the delivery of a total of six out of 44 A320 aircraft ordered in 2007.
Air Arabia also started operations to the city of Gassim, Saudi Arabia, in the third quarter and unveiled plans to introduce service to new destinations before the end of this year.
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