Dubai: Flydubai has committed to more than a hundred narrow-body Boeing aircraft in what is the US-manufacturer’s largest ever single-aisle order made by a Middle Eastern airline.
The order for a hundred Boeing 737 MAX and 11 next generation 737-800s is valued at $11.4 billion (Dh41.8 billion) at current prices.
Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, flydubai chairman, announced the deal at the Dubai Airshow on Sunday alongside Boeing Chairman Jim McNerney.
At a press conference announcing the deal, Al Maktoum said the new order would be used to access “new diversified markets” but would not say where exactly the fleet would fly to.
Flydubai’s fleet is currently solely made up of Boeing aircraft.
In a press release, Ray Conner, Boeing Commercial Airplanes President & Chief Executive Officer, stated that the order was a “remarkable milestone” for the US-manufacturer.
The flydubai-Boeing deal along with Qatar Airways and Emirates Boeing orders announced at a shared press conference is worth a combined total of nearly $100 billion from the three Gulf airlines
Asked about when flydubai would start flying from Dubai’s newest airport Al Maktoum International, located next to the Dubai Airshow venue at Dubai World Central, Shaikh Ahmad suggested that eventually flydubai would fly from one of Dubai’s two airports while Emirates would fly from the other.
”We need one [strong] airline at each airport and in Dubai we have two. So you will see one is based here (at Al Maktoum) and one is based there (Dubai International).”
Shaikh Ahmad, who is also Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group, did not say on what time-frame one of the two airlines would shift to the new airport.
Earlier, he said it was a possibility that Emirates would at one stage operate at Al Maktoum and Dubai International.
Flydubai have added 16 new routes so far in 2013 and have incorporated business class on selected services, which is now being rolled out across its existing fleet.
