Air Arabia, the largest low-cost carrier in the Mena region, has reported a net profit of Dh297 million ($80.8 million) for the third quarter of the year, up 26 per cent compared to Dh235 million ($63.9 million) recorded in the same period in 2015.

For the three months ending September 30, 2016, the airline posted a turnover of Dh1.12 billion ($304.8 million), in line with the revenue generated in the same period of 2015.

Air Arabia served over 2.27 million passengers in the third quarter of 2016, a 14 per cent increase compared to 2 million passengers in the same period of last year. The average seat load factor – or passengers carried as a percentage of available seats – for the same quarter stood at an impressive 81 per cent.

Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Al Thani, chairman of Air Arabia said: “The strong third quarter and year to date performance is a reflection of Air Arabia’s commercial and operational strengths supported by the company’s commitment to deliver high value air travel to its customers and return on investments to its shareholders."

He added: “Despite challenging trading conditions driven by excess capacity in the market, political instability in some markets and the effect of lower oil price in the regional economies, we remain confident about the long-term prospects for the low cost industry in region and our ability to continue with our growth plans while delivering our value-for-money promise to our customer’s everyday."

Air Arabia’s net profit for the first nine months of 2016 stood at Dh542 million ($147.5 million), up 15 per cent compared to Dh472 million ($128.4 million) reported in the corresponding period of 2015. For the nine months ending September 30, 2016, the airline posted a turnover of Dh2.96 billion ($805.6 million), an increase of 3 per cent compared to Dh2.86 billion ($778.4 million) in the same period of 2015.
The low-cost aviation pioneer served over 6.3 million passengers in the first nine month of 2016, a 14 per cent year-on-year increase. The average seat load factor – or passengers carried as a percentage of available seats – for the same period stood at an impressive 80 per cent.

Air Arabia completed 13 years last month, maintaining its continuous record of profitability since its first year of operations. The carrier added five new routes to its global network during the first nine months of 2016 from its operating hubs in the UAE, Morocco and Jordan.

Air Arabia also added to its impressive list of international accolades in the third quarter of 2016 when it was ranked third among the top 50 airlines in the world following a report compiled by Airfinance Journal surveying 137 carriers across the globe. The carrier was also named “Low Cost Airline of the Year’ at the Aviation Business Awards and took home the ‘Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative of the Year’ award in recognition for its ‘Charity Cloud’ program. Air Arabia’s group chief executive officer Adel Al Ali also won ‘Airline CEO of the Year’ award at the 10th CEO Middle East Awards that took place in September 2016. - TradeArabia News Service