Air Arabia Q1 profit surges 34% to $31 mn

Dubai (AFP) – Sharjah-based budget carrier Air Arabia said Monday its net profit surged 34 percent on year to $31.06 million in the first three months of 2016, thanks to rising passenger numbers.

The Middle East’s first and largest low-cost airline said its net profit in the first quarter hit 114 million dirhams ($31.06 million), compared to 85 million dirhams in the corresponding period last year.

Revenues were seven percent up in the same period to 946 million dirhams, while passenger numbers rose 17 percent from last year to 2.1 million, said the carrier.

“Air Arabia has made an excellent start to 2016, maintaining the momentum we established last year and attracting new customers to our brand,” chairman Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohamed al-Thani said in a statement.

The airline, which began operations from the emirate of Sharjah in 2003, now has other hubs in Egypt, Jordan and Morocco. It operates a fleet of 43 narrow-body Airbus A320s serving some 115 destinations.