Flydubai has announced a record-breaking annual performance in 2023, marking the carrier’s strongest-ever performance.
Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of flydubai, said: “In its 15th year of operations, flydubai has emerged as one of the key players in the UAE’s aviation industry and a major contributor to Dubai’s economy.
“Its solid business model has enabled the carrier to grow exponentially even during challenging times, doubling its operating fleet and expanding its network since the pandemic.
Flydubai celebrates record performance
“This remarkable achievement has been made possible due to the vision of the UAE’s leadership and the progressive policies of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum which are conducive to the success of the aviation industry and flydubai as a key contributor to the sector.
“The decision to accelerate its aircraft deliveries during the pandemic, preserve its workforce and to move forward with its ambitious network expansion plans has proven to be the correct strategy for the carrier resulting in its strongest-ever performance.
“I am proud of the work the team has done to achieve these outstanding results, setting the bar even higher for the years to come as flydubai continues to play an intrinsic role in supporting Dubai’s leading position on the global trade, tourism and aviation stage.”
Ghaith Al Ghaith, CEO at flydubai, said: “Building on the momentum from our previous strong performance, we continued to grow surpassing all pre-pandemic levels to achieve the most profitable year in the history of the airline.
“The confidence our leadership and key partners have in us has kept us steadfast in our commitment to connect more underserved markets to Dubai and to enable more passengers to travel conveniently more often.
“More than 108m passengers have chosen flydubai since our first flight took off in 2009, proving the attractiveness of our offering and the city we carry in our name.
“I am very proud of the hard work and dedication of everyone at flydubai which has enabled us to break all our records while keeping our customers at the heart of everything we do.”
Key performance indicators for 2023, include:
- Total annual revenue AED11.2bn ($3bn)
- Total annual profit: AED2.1bn ($572m)
- Passenger numbers: 13.8m (31 per cent increase compared to 2022)
- Fleet size: 84
- Total number of departures: 107,862 (24 per cent increase compared to 2022)
- Total number of employees: 5,545
- Total number of destinations: 122
Among the highlights of the year, flydubai launched 17 routes and ended 2023 with a network of 122 destinations in 52 countries including Ashgabat, Cairo Sphinx, Corfu (seasonal), Kabul, Milan, Mogadishu, Neom, Olbia (seasonal), Poznań, Shymkent and St. Petersburg.
The launch of operations to Krabi and Pattaya in Thailand marked flydubai’s return to Southeast Asia.
Flydubai carried 13.8m passengers across its network; an increase of 31 per cent compared to 2022.
The carrier recorded an increase of 32 per cent in demand for Business Class in the GCC as well as Central Asia and the Caucasus.
Also, flydubai recorded a 56 per cent year-on-year increase in passenger numbers on its GCC network and a 36 per cent increase in Europe.
At the Dubai Airshow 2023, flydubai placed an order worth $11bn for 30 Boeing 787 Dreamliners to be delivered from 2026.
This marked the airline’s first wide-body order, diversifying its current fleet of all-Boeing 737 aircraft.
Meanwhile, flydubai’s workforce reached 5,545 employees with more than 1,000 new colleagues joining in 2023 across various departments.
In total, 73 per cent of the new joiners were pilots, cabin crew and engineers to support the airline’s growing fleet and network.
Looking ahead to the rest of 2024, Ghaith Al Ghaith said: “We are dedicated to supporting the Dubai Economic Agenda D33 to solidify its position as one of the world’s top three cities for tourism and business over the next decade.
“We will continue with our strategic network development plans that will see more destinations join the flydubai network this year starting with the five new routes announced since the start of 2024 including Basel, Riga, Sochi, Tallinn and Vilnius.
“Additionally, we will take delivery of 12 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft allowing us to add capacity on existing routes as demand for travel across our network returns to pre-pandemic levels.
“Looking ahead, we are renewing our commitment to further enhancing our customer experience and providing the right product at the right time. This year will see more investment in technologies across the business and the retrofitting of our fleet of Next-Generation Boeing 737 aircraft to provide a more cohesive customer experience”.
Follow us on
