Profits at UAE budget carrier flydubai surged by 47 percent
to AED228.8m ($60.7m) for full-year 2013 on the back of soaring passenger
numbers to European destinations.
In a financial statement on Monday, the airline said that
revenue hit AED3.7bn, while passenger numbers rose 38 percent to 6.82m,
including a 55 percent increase in passenger traffic to European airports.
During the year, the carrier launched 17 new routes,
including doubling its destinations in Russia and CIS destinations such as
Moldova.
The airline also showed strong passenger growth on
destinations in Central Asia (39 percent) and the Caucasus (39 percent).
Fuel accounted for 39.5 percent of operating costs, with 29
percent of fuel requirements hedged in the final quarter of the year.
Going forward the airline said it expected to receive eight
new aircraft in 2014, with the 86 Boeing 737s ordered in an $8.8bn deal at the
Dubai Air Show last year anticipated to be delivered from 2016 through to 2023.
The carrier also said that it would roll out business class
cabins on more destinations this year, including Basra, Belgrade, Gassim,
Krasnodar, Muscat, Najaf, Tbilisi, Volgograd, Yanbu and Yerevan .
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