flydubai receives its first Boeing 737-800 aircraft

Dubai: flydubai, the emirate's first low-cost carrier (LCC), on Monday received its first of 50 next-generation Boeing 737-800s.
While the summer traffic is expected to be low this year due to a dampened consumer spending, Gaith Al Gaith, chief executive of the airline said the "booking right now is better than expected" for the summer.
The airline, whose first flight will be to Beirut, Lebanon, on June 1, will be adding 14 to 16 more destinations by the year's end. Other confirmed destinations include Amman, Jordan, Damascus, Syria, Alexandria and Egypt.
Al Gaith told Gulf News that the airline would be looking at the Indian sub-continent and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries as its new destinations. The focus would "always be this region", he said.
The airline would be taking delivery of six aircraft this year, including its inaugural aircraft. One more is expected this month, two in July, one in October and another in December.
The airline placed an order of 50 aircraft last year at Farnborough for $4 billion (Dh14.69 billion), and officials said that all the deliveries would be taken by 2016.
Speaking of the funding for the aircraft, Al Gaith said that it would be from the airline's own resources, plus from local and international institutions. "We will finance them as they come," he said.
The airline's model is said to be "less complex, less stressful and less expensive". The ticket price includes all taxes and hand baggage allowance of 10kg. For additional 32kg, passengers will have to pay a separate charge of Dh40.
"People should not pay for others' baggage," Al Gaith said, describing the separate price charge as "fair".
18/05/09 Nadia Saleem/Gulf News

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Categories: Foreign May 2009, Low Cost General May 2009, New May 2009