Visa waiver programs will be beneficial for flydubai operations in Russia

06.02.2017 — News

The Dubai Aviation Corporation, known as flydubai, evaluated its performance in 2016. The profit of the Arabian low-cost airline totaled USD 8.6 mln; the revenue reached USD 1.37 bln.

The airline’s gross passenger flow (85 destinations in 43 countries) increased by 14.4% and reached its record high of 10.4 million people. With its 21 flights a week to seven destinations in Russia, flydubai increased its number of passengers by 3% in 2016, as RusBusinessNews has been informed by the airline’s Press Service.

As compared to 2015, the fleet of the airline’s Next-Generation Boeing 737-800 airliners grew from 50 to 57; the number of flights increased by 8.1% - to 88,114 a year. In 2017, flydubai will be the first Middle East airline operating a new model of Boeing 737 MAX 8.

In his assessment of prospects for this year, Ghaith Al Ghaith, flydubai’s CEO, pointed out: "We will remain prudent throughout 2017, as we will continue to operate in a challenging socioeconomic environment."

Experts are cautious in their forecast for possible improvement of operations in Russia due to visa waiver programs offered to Russian citizens interested in visiting the United Arab Emirates. Since February 1, 2017 a 30-day visit to the Arab Emirates has become more available, which is going to attract tourists making spontaneous decisions on their vacation in the Middle East.