Low cost airlines of the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council may gain 20% of the region’s air transportation market in the next few years. At the same time, according to the British agency Official Airline Guide, the leading airlines of this class in the region will be Air Arabia and Flydubai. According to analysts, these two UAE-based companies can actually double the amount of low-cost air travel in the region.
Flydubai currently has 17 aircraft, planning to purchase 50 Boeing 737 in the near future. According to a recent statement by the company’s head, 10% of low-cost airlines in the airline market can easily increase to 35%.
The Sharjah airline Air Arabia operates today with 27 new Airbus A320s on 67 routes and expects its fleet to expand to 55 ships by 2015.
At the same time, in order to reach the level expected by analysts, low-cost carriers in the Middle East will have to work closely on the development of new directions, while the existing sectors of the aviation market are increasingly saturated. One of the promising opportunities in this regard for low-cost airlines may be long-distance transportation routes.
