flydubai receives its first Boeing 737-800 aircraft

Dubai: flydubai, the emirate's first low-cost carrier (LCC), on Monday received its first of 50 next-generation Boeing 737-800s.

While the summer traffic is expected to be low this year due to a dampened consumer spending, Gaith Al Gaith, chief executive of the airline said the "booking right now is better than expected" for the summer.

The airline, whose first flight will be to Beirut, Lebanon, on June 1, will be adding 14 to 16 more destinations by the year's end. Other confirmed destinations include Amman, Jordan, Damascus, Syria, Alexandria and Egypt.

Al Gaith told Gulf News that the airline would be looking at the Indian sub-continent and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries as its new destinations. The focus would "always be this region", he said.

The airline would be taking delivery of six aircraft this year, including its inaugural aircraft. One more is expected this month, two in July, one in October and another in December.

The airline placed an order of 50 aircraft last year at Farnborough for $4 billion (Dh14.69 billion), and officials said that all the deliveries would be taken by 2016.

Speaking of the funding for the aircraft, Al Gaith said that it would be from the airline's own resources, plus from local and international institutions. "We will finance them as they come," he said.

The airline's model is said to be "less complex, less stressful and less expensive". The ticket price includes all taxes and hand baggage allowance of 10kg. For additional 32kg, passengers will have to pay a separate charge of Dh40.

"People should not pay for others' baggage," Al Gaith said, describing the separate price charge as "fair".

The airline will be based out of Dubai International Airport, and the chief executive said that he sees a possibility for it to move base to Al Maktoum Airport in Jebel Ali once construction is complete next year. He said that it would focus on the UAE as a base, and doesn't have any plans of a second hub to expand its reach outside of the region.

He said that the airline would be complementing the needs of other traditional and low-cost carriers of the UAE. The airline is now the first direct competition from within the UAE to Air Arabia, the region's first LCC.

Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and Chairman and CEO of Emirates Group, the parent company of flydubai, said during the unveiling of the new aircraft, that since the country relies heavily on air transport, it is important for Dubai to have its own low-cost carrier.