Air Arabia, the Middle East's biggest low-cost carrier, said first-quarter profit rose 81 per cent after it carried more passengers.
Net income in the three months to March 31 surged to Dh78 million ($21.24 million) compared with Dh43 million in the year-earlier period, the Sharjah, United Arab Emirates-based firm said in a statement.
The company's turnover rose 59 per cent to Dh383 million and the number of passengers rose to 757,000 compared with 577,000 in the year-ago period, it said.
Cairo-based investment bank EFG-Hermes and Deutsche Bank forecast the company would post profit of Dh70 million and Dh92 million respectively, in the first quarter, according to a Reuters survey of analysts in March. -Reuters