flydubai revenue skyrocket as Covid-19 recovery continues

United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) low-cost airline, flydubai, today announced its annual results for the year 2021, reporting a profit of 841 million AED (USD 229 million) and demonstrating a strong performance after a challenging two years due to COVID-19.

According to the details, flydubai’s annual results for 2021 report a total annual revenue of 5.3 billion AED (USD 1,434 million) compared to 2.8 billion AED (USD 773 million) in 2020; an increase of 86%. Moreover, the UAE-based carrier saw an increase in demand, and carried 5.6 million passengers last year, a 76% increase compared to 2020 levels.

Commenting on the announcement of the airline’s Full-Year Results for 2021, His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of flydubai, said:

“The tremendous results flydubai is reporting for 2021 come after a very challenging two years as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.  The decisions taken by the UAE’s leadership, which saw the implementation of the precautionary safety measures throughout the customer journey, gave visitors the confidence to travel to Dubai; resulting in a 76% year-on-year increase in passenger numbers.  We remain well placed to continue to welcome passengers across our network to Dubai and beyond.  flydubai is intrinsic to Dubai’s travel and tourism industry.”

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Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer at flydubai, commenting on flydubai’s 2021 Annual Results, said:

“flydubai’s business model remains strong and has served us well through the pandemic.  As demand returned these strong fundamentals have translated into a significant improvement in our financial performance.  This achievement has been made possible by the commitment of our hardworking employees combined with our business agility.”

Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer at flydubai, commenting on the travel restrictions that were in place across its network, said:

“A challenge that remained throughout 2021 was the constant changes to the travel restrictions.  This meant that passengers did not have the confidence to book travel early, however they continued to travel with a shorter booking window ahead of their date of travel.  During the second half of the year, travel restrictions began to ease which led to an increase in demand for travel across our network.  We launched flights to seasonal summer destinations to offer more options for passengers and the increase in our flight schedule in the second half of the year supported the demand for inbound travel to Dubai.”

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Key highlights for the year ending 31 December 2021 contributing to flydubai’s recovery since the peak of the pandemic

• 22 new routes were launched in 2021, 13 of which were unserved destinations from Dubai
• The top 10 busiest routes for scheduled flights across the flydubai network were Alexandria (HBE), Bahrain (BAH), Bucharest (OTP), Doha (DOH), Karachi (KHI), Kathmandu (KTM), Male’ (MLE), Tbilisi (TBS), Tel Aviv (TLV) and Zanzibar (ZNZ)
• To meet the demand for travel over the summer, the airline launched flights to five destinations for the summer season: Batumi (BUS), Bodrum (BJV), Mykonos (JMK), Santorini (JTR) and Trabzon (TZX)
• With the easing of the travel restrictions around the network, flydubai has seen an increase in the demand for travel. In January 2020, flydubai operated 5,701 flights. The number of flights surpassed pre-pandemic levels in December 2021 when the airline operated 6,430 flights
• flydubai has seen an increase in demand for connecting traffic with 34% of passengers connecting on to the flydubai network or through its codeshare with Emirates
• Demand for Business Class increased in the following regions on the flydubai network:
  • The GCC saw an increase of 42% in 2021 up from 35% in 2019
  • Europe saw an increase of 51% in 2021 up from 41% in 2019
  • Africa saw an increase of 42% in 2021 up from 35% in 2019
• The fleet expanded to 59 aircraft including 34 Next-Generation Boeing 737-800, 22 Boeing 737 MAX 8 and 3 Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft
• The Boeing 737 MAX aircraft rejoined the airline’s fleet from April which were maintained in active storage to facilitate a seamless return to service
• flydubai will continue to operate a mixed fleet of Next-Generation Boeing 737-800 and Boeing 737 MAX aircraft
• In July, flydubai reached an agreement with Boeing and the airline has adjusted its aircraft orders which had been placed in 2013 and 2017.  flydubai revised down the total number of aircraft it will receive by 65 aircraft.  As at 31 December, 25 aircraft had been received from its orders with 161 aircraft due for delivery
• flydubai completed the financing requirements for 13 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft and two LEAP-1B engines by sale and leaseback to support aircraft deliveries during 2021
• flydubai moved into its new Campus in April bringing its team together and creating a greener and sustainable working environment with a LEED certification. The Campus includes a Training Centre for its crew
• Since the airline’s extended codeshare partnership with Emirates was launched in 2017, more than 8.3 million passengers have enjoyed seamless connectivity across the joint network

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