Air Transport World
Saturday June 17, 2017
By Kurt Hofmann
Dubai-based low-cost carrier (LCC) flydubai plans to increase its presence in Africa to 12 destinations, following a 3.5% boost in passengers traveling between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Africa in 2016 compared to 2015.
Beginning Oct. 29, the LCC will launch 6X-weekly Dubai-Kilimanjaro (Tanzania) service, which will become flydubai’s third point in Tanzania, along with Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar.
In addition, direct flights from Dubai to Zanzibar will rise from 3X- to 8X-weekly.
“With the addition of the service to Kilimanjaro and more direct flights to Zanzibar, flydubai will operate 14 flights a week, marking a 133% increase in capacity in the market [Tanzania] compared to the previous year,” CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith said in a statement.
The company said it remains committed to opening up underserved markets (like Tanzania).
Flydubai’s network in Africa includes more than 80 weekly flights for the current summer period, operating from Dubai to Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Alexandria (Egypt), Asmara (Eritrea), Djibouti, Entebbe (Uganda), Hargeisa (Somalia), Juba (South-Sudan), Khartoum (Sudan) and Port Sudan (Sudan).
Flydubai operates to 94 destinations in 44 countries. Since launching operations in 2009, the LCC opened up 63 new routes that did not previously have direct air links to Dubai or were not served by a UAE national carrier from Dubai.
The carrier operates a single fleet type of 58 Boeing 737-800s.