flydubai-the next generation airline

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founded: March 19, 2008, formed by the government of Dubai (UAE) with the help of Emirates Airlines, although it will not be a part of the airline.
CEO: Ghaith Al Ghaith ( former executive vice president commercial operations worldwide at Emirates)
COO: Captain Kenneth Gile ( ex COO of Skybus and worked in a variety of positions at Southwest Airlines over a period of 25 years)

On July 14, 2008, flydubai signed a USD 4 billion firm order at the Farnborough Air Show with Boeing for 50 Boeing 737-800's, with the option to change the order to longer range Boeing 737-900ER's later on. A leasing agreement was also signed with Babcock & Brown Aircraft Management for four more Boeing 737-800s for delivery in 2009. (source: wikipedia)

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Referring to FlyDubai, Sheikh Ahmed said the new airline will start in summer

source: Business 24x7 wednesday dec 17 edition

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Jazeera's chairman and chief executive officer Marwan Boodai on FlyDubai

How is flyDubai, the emirate's first low-cost carrier, going to affect you?

I don't want to just say that the market is big. But flyDubai is targeting a different segment. With 737s, high density, etc, it is a totally different market from what we are serving. They are more focussed on the Indian subcontinent and labour traffic. We are more focused on the middle-class group, on families and business travel. We feel that business travellers will be increasingly choosing Jazeera, rather than the high-end of the market.

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source: the Hindu (indian newspaper)

Fly Dubai, the low-cost airline being planned by the Dubai Government, is likely to begin operations in June 2009.

Though the routes on which the new carrier will operate are still being chalked out, flights to India are very much on the cards.

“Fly Dubai will be an independent airline which will operate Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Though its launch has been delayed due to the delay in deliveries of our aircraft, we expect to begin in June and fly the same routes in India and West Asia as Emirates does currently,” said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline, while addressing a press conference in San Francisco after the inauguration of its 16-hour non-stop green flight from Dubai to San Francisco, for which a battery of journalists from India and the UAE have been taken by the airline.

Upbeat on India


Sheikh Maktoum also said that the airline was open to looking at proposals to pick up foreign direct investment (FDI) in related businesses such as ramp and passenger handling when the situation arises in India, which recently relaxed its FDI rules in related aviation areas such as non-scheduled cargo airlines and sea planes.

Besides this, the company is bullish on India as it has recently expanded seat capacity from the region and expects this to give it good returns. “We have enhanced the points we are now serving in India and have increased the seats offered. We are also getting into the leisure segment as Indians have increased their spending and despite the slowdown we are getting good volumes from here,” said Mr Tim Clark, President, Emirates Airline.

On the percentage of transit passengers that the airline picks up from India, Mr Clark gave a rough estimate of 20-25 per cent. “We know our business,” he said, responding to the query that Emirates was using the fifth freedom strategy and taking away a lot of business from the Indian carriers operating abroad.

“India’s airlines have been in the sector for many years before us, they too could use the opportunities available,” he said.

Mr Clark admitted that there has been a “slight erosion” in the airline’s premium segment due to the meltdown in the West. However, he said, that this was being filled in by the “baby boomer” clientele in the UK, who were now in their silver years. To buck the slowdown in traffic, Emirates for its global strategy is also looking to tap transit traffic from Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka among others for its Dubai hub.

“We will go where the market is,” said Mr Clark, citing the fact that the airline has gone to unlikely places such as Berlin, Glasgow, Manchester and Düsseldorf and is seeing substantial traffic from those regions.