Flydubai has confirmed its commitment to enhancing the customer experience by investing in technology across the company’s operations and departments, revealing that by the end of this year, all 29 new-generation Boeing 737-800 aircraft in its fleet will be upgraded and updated.
“Demand for travel to, from and through Dubai remains strong, enhancing the airline’s operational performance this year,” said Jeyhun Efendi, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations and E-commerce at flydubai.
“The carrier will continue its commitment to opening up destinations not served by direct flights from Dubai, and to boost trade and tourism flows,” Afandi told local media, coinciding with flydubai’s launch of regular flights to the Swiss city of Basel, becoming the first national airline from the country to operate direct flights to and from Dubai.
He added: “From its headquarters in Dubai, flydubai has expanded its network to reach more than 125 destinations in 58 countries, served by a modern fleet of 88 Boeing 737 aircraft.”
Afandi pointed out the importance of the European market for the carrier, as it has become its second largest market after Gulf Air, stressing Flydubai’s readiness to expand its network in the European continent with the launch of its operations to more destinations in the coming period.
He pointed out that the carrier’s network in Europe has grown to 29 destinations, with the launch of its flights from Dubai to Basel. He said: “Most of flydubai’s flights to the European market depart from Terminal 3 at Dubai International Airport, while in recent months the carrier has increased capacity to European destinations, including Poland and Italy,” noting that the carrier’s occupancy rate to European destinations exceeds 80%.
“Flydubai continues to explore business opportunities in various international markets, and provide more travel options for its customers to, from and through Dubai,” Afandi explained, pointing to the attractiveness of Dubai, which provides visitors with an ideal mix of leisure and business opportunities, with luxury resorts and world-class shopping and entertainment venues.
Afandi said that flydubai continues to enhance its customers’ experience and provide the right product at the right time, by investing in technology across the company’s various operations and departments, in addition to updating its fleet of new-generation Boeing 737 aircraft.
He said: “By the end of this year 2024, the modernization and upgrade operations of all aircraft in the fleet of new generation aircraft, model (Boeing 737-800), which number 29 aircraft, will be completed.”
Afandi pointed to the strategic partnership between the carrier and Emirates Airlines, as this partnership provides flydubai customers with easy connections to Emirates destinations around the world, while Emirates customers have access to flydubai’s regional network and destinations that did not previously have connectivity services, providing its passengers with more options to reach major business centers and attractive holiday destinations.
He revealed that “the strategic partnership between Emirates Airlines and Flydubai enabled more than 3.7 million passengers in 2023 to continue their journeys with flexibility and smoothness across the joint network that includes more than 220 destinations around the world.”
“Flydubai has signed two new codeshare agreements with Air Canada and United Airlines during 2023, while continuing to enhance business opportunities through agreements with various airlines, with the signing of interline agreements, and is in ongoing discussions to sign other agreements during the coming period, including within the European market,” he said.
“Boeing’s continued delays in aircraft delivery schedules and its inability to commit to delivering more aircraft to the carrier for the remainder of the year have had a significant impact on the carrier’s growth plans,” said Effendi. “The ongoing challenges in aircraft delivery schedules have led to flydubai receiving fewer aircraft than expected in the past three years,” he added.
He explained that based on the latest update, Boeing will not deliver 14 aircraft to flydubai scheduled for delivery during the current year and until March next year at the earliest, which prompted the carrier to suspend its plans to launch three new destinations in Europe, and a limited reduction in seat capacity to other destinations, which had a significant impact on its growth plans and strategy for the coming period.
Airport serving 3 markets
“Basel is an important addition to flydubai’s European network,” said Jeyhun Efendi, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations and E-commerce at flydubai. “Basel Mulhouse Freiburg International Airport serves Switzerland, France and Germany, making it an important hub for travel, trade and tourism in the region, as it borders three countries,” he said. “The carrier operates four weekly flights from the start of operations, and we see encouraging signs to serve the route with a daily flight from summer next year. The flights operated by the carrier will be codeshared with Emirates.”
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