Air Arabia

Air Arabia is an Emirati low-cost airline based in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The airline operates scheduled services to 170 destinations in the Middle East, North Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, and Europe to 22 countries from Sharjah, 28 destinations in nine countries from Casablanca, Fez, Nador, and Tangier, 11 destinations in eight countries from Ras Al Khaimah, and six destinations in four countries from Alexandria. Air Arabia's main base is Sharjah International Airport. There are also operating bases in Ras Al Khaimah and Abu Dhabi as well as in Alexandria and Casablanca.

History

Air Arabia was established on 3 February 2003 by an Amiri decree issued by Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, the Ruler of Sharjah and member of the Supreme Council of the United Arab Emirates, becoming the first low-fare airline in the Middle East.
The airline started operations on 28 October 2003. It broke even during its first year in business, and launched an initial public offering for 55% of its stock early in 2007.
In March 2014, Airbus delivered its 6000th A320 family aircraft to Air Arabia.

Corporate affairs

Management and ownership

Air Arabia launched in October 2003 and was the second low-cost carrier in the Middle East. The company reported more than AED 19 billion in Q4 2019. The airline broke even in its first year of operation. Air Arabia consists of a group of airlines and companies offering travel and tourism services across the Middle East and North Africa.
As of March 2014, Annual General Meeting, the board members consisted of the following members:

Board member	Title
Sheik Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Thani	Chairman of the board
Adel Abdulla Ali	Chief executive officer and executive director
Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdullah Al Thani	Independent director
Samer A. Katerji	Independent member
Sheikh Khalid Bin Issam Al Qassimi	Independent member
Waleed Al Sayegh	Independent member
Matar Al Blooshi	Independent member

Headquarters

The headquarters is in the Sharjah airport Freight Center, on the property of Sharjah International Airport. The airport is away from central Dubai.

Subsidiaries

Abu Dhabi

. The airline was launched on 14 July 2020 after the signing of an agreement between Etihad Aviation Group and Air Arabia. Air Arabia Abu Dhabi will support the network of destinations and services provided by Etihad Airways, and in turn will meet the needs of the low-cost and growing travel sector in the region.

Armenia

. In September 2021, Air Arabia announced a joint venture with the Armenian National Interests Fund to launch a new national airline called Fly Arna. Fly Arna operated as a low-cost passenger airline with Yerevan’s Zvartnots International Airport as its base. It ceased operations in 2024.

Egypt

. On 9 September 2009, Air Arabia announced Air Arabia Egypt as a joint venture with Egyptian travel and tourism company Travco Group to be based in Alexandria, Egypt.

Jordan

. In January 2015, Air Arabia announced the acquisition of a 49% stake in Petra Airlines. The principal shareholder of Petra Airlines, the RUM Group, retains a 51% stake in the airline, which will be rebranded as Air Arabia Jordan in early 2015. The first flights of the new airline took place during the week commencing 18 May 2015, with launch destinations being Kuwait, Sharm El Sheikh, Erbil, and Jeddah. Air Arabia Jordan ended operations in 2018.

Morocco

. Air Arabia, in a joint venture with Moroccan investors, established Air Arabia Maroc and set up a secondary base in Morocco's largest city, Casablanca. It began operations in May 2009, allowing Air Arabia to expand into Europe and Africa.

Nepal

. In 2007, Air Arabia opened a base in Nepal's capital Kathmandu to serve Asia and the Middle East, after signing a joint venture agreement with Yeti Airlines. It established a low-cost carrier, Fly Yeti that provided service to international destinations.

Pakistan

. In September 2021, Air Arabia announced a joint venture with Pakistani conglomerate Lakson Group to launch a low cost airline called Fly Jinnah. This will be a budget carrier serving domestic and international routes from Pakistan.

Service concept

Air Arabia does not provide free catering, but passengers can purchase catering onboard or in advance. The airline does not, however, serve alcoholic beverages on its flights.

Business trends

The key trends for Air Arabia over recent years are shown below :

	Turnover	Net profit	Number of employees	Number of passengers	Passenger load factor	Number of destinations	Number of aircraft	Notes/sources
2004	181	N/A		0.5	68	15	3
2005	411	31		1.1	79	23	5
2006	749	101		1.8	80	32	8
2007	1,283	369		2.7	86	37	11
2008	2,066	510		3.6	85	44	16
2009	1,972	452		4.1	80	45	21
2010	2,08	310		4.5	83	65	25
2011	1,796	195		4.7	82	69	29
2012	2,832	424		5.3	82	82	33
2013	3,183	435		6.1	80		34
2014	3,729	566		6.8	81	90	39
2015	3,825	530		7.6	79		41
2016	3,778	481		8.0	82		46
2017	3,739	365	1,900	8.5	79		50
2018	4,122	−579	2,000	8.7	81		53
2019	4,758	1,008	2,100	9.4	83		55
2020	1,851	−192	1,353	2.9	79		57
2021	3,174	720	1,498	4.4	73		58
2022	5,241	1,222	2,058	8.3	80		68
2023	5,999	1,548		10.1	80		73

In June 2019, Air Arabia disclosed that it had an exposure of $336 million to Abraaj through funds and short-term loans. It had sued Abraaj founder Arif Naqvi in Sharjah Courts. The airline took a AED 1.1 billion hit on their books in 2018 due to their exposure to Abraaj.
As the pandemic hit airline services, Air Arabia reported a net loss of AED192 million in 2020. Also, the turnover for Q4 of 2020 was 53% below Q4 of 2019. The airline’s net profits in Q1 of 2021 fell by 52% to AED 33.844 million. Also, revenue generated in Q1 of 2021 was AED 572.145 after witnessing major drop from AED 901.374 million in Q1 of 2020.

Destinations

As of July 2021, Air Arabia serves up to 120 airports across the Middle East, North Africa, Asia and Europe. On 11 December 2024, Air Arabia announced on its website the resumption of direct flights between Sharjah and Beirut, Lebanon beginning 18 December 2024.

Fleet

Current fleet

, Air Arabia and its co-branded subsidiaries operate an all-Airbus A320 family fleet composed of the following aircraft:

Fleet development

In November 2017, the airline signed a lease agreement for six A321LR. In April 2019, Air Arabia received its first A321LR. In November 2019, during the Dubai Air Show, the airline announced its order of 120 aircraft comprising 73 A320neo, 27 A321neo and 20 A321XLR, with deliveries from 2024.

Livery

Air Arabia has a livery with the aircraft body being painted in three different colors, red, grey, and white. The tail and each aircraft engine bear the company logo of Sharjah in the form of a bird. Celebrating 15 years of service in October 2018, a new livery was introduced and was applied to the whole fleet.
The updated livery features a large red bird logo coming down from tail to rear fuselage with grey accents behind its wings and billboard-style AirArabia title in English on the front of aircraft with small Arabic title placed next to it above the windows. The bird logo also adorns the engines while the title is applied on red winglets.

Incidents and accidents

In September 2018, an Air Arabia Airbus A320, operating flight ABY 111 from Sharjah International Airport to Salalah International Airport, was investigated by the Air Accident Investigation Sector of the UAE due to the co-pilot turning the wrong direction on the runway. The aircraft took off from the opposite direction to the direction they had been cleared to.