Budget fare king

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Adel Ali, founder and CEO of Air Arabia.

Air Arabia founder and CEO Adel Ali tells Tamara Walid why the Middle East's first low-cost carrier has nothing to fear from the arrival of the largest Arab airline on the budget travel scene.

Adel Ali finds nothing more painful than failure. And failing this time would have been excruciatingly painful. "I had to make it work," he says.

He is talking about the formation of the Middle East's first budget airline four years ago, which was accompanied by a chorus of doubting and criticism from the local aviation industry.

That reception, however, gave him the resolve to prove his doubters wrong and the first Air Arabia flight took off shortly afterwards.

"What makes me happy is that all those aviation 'experts' that said our model would not work are actually making their own low-cost airlines now," says Ali, the founder and CEO of Air Arabia.

Almost five years on, Ali is still convinced he's done the right thing, even as new challenges arise.

Recently, Emirates Airline, the largest Arab carrier and the world's fastest growing airline, announced plans to start a low-cost operator within a year, to tap into the growing market.

Ali insists the entry of Emirates into the market does not pose a threat to either his own airline, or other local low-cost carriers.

"It is positive for me in the sense that at least it tells the cynics in the region that we have not done the wrong thing in the last five years," he says.

Air Arabia has grown from being a two-airplane airline to a fleet of 17 airplanes by the end of 2008, in less than four years.

"We will be adding at least five or six airplanes per year in the next five years, so we are looking at a fleet of 50 airplanes by 2015," says Ali who believes he's setting a very realistic target.

He adds: "That's not taking it too bullishly. It is a conservative scenario that I think will meet our growth, but a sensible growth."

Last year was a good one for Air Arabia, according to Ali. The airline waved goodbye to 2007 with 37 destinations under its belt and reported a net profit of US$102.4m, compared to US$27.5m in 2006.

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