UTOPIA AIRPORT: FLY DUBAI - 10th ANNIVERSARY

FLY DUBAI

We celebrate in 2018, the 10th anniversary of the foundation of FLYDUBAI. The establishment of FLYDUBAI comes to no surprise as the aviation scene in the Middle East witnessed huge changes in the first decade of the 21st century . The rise in power of Qatar Airways , Emirates Airlines and later on of Etihad Airways posed a threat to European and Asian "legacy " carriers as they took a significant market share on their Europe/Asia, Europe/Oceania , Europe/India services, meanwhile residents of Pakistan, India for example , could easily fly to European and North American destinations not served by their flag carriers by making just a stop in DOH, AUH or DXB.
The low cost sector was not ignored also , as a plethora of low cost carriers saw the light of the day with more or less success : Jazeera Airways, Air Arabia, Bahrain Air, Rak Airways, Sama.
The company was set up by the government of Dubai as the city's first low cost carrier in March 2008 and On June1, 2009 it launched its first service to Beirut on a Boeing B737-800 NG of which the company has ordered 50 during the Farnborough show in June 2008. Other destinations followed : Amman, Damascus, Aleppo and Alexandria. The success was immediate and in July 2010 , FLYDUBAI had already carried its 1000000th passenger .The company is independently operated from Emirates (they share the same shareholder) and serves thin international routes that would be uneconomical for Emirates to fly.
The airline currently has one hub and operates out of Terminal 2 of Dubai However, to accommodate for the growing airline , flydubai began to operate flights out of DWC (Al-Maktoum International airport-Dubai World Central) from 25 October 2015. The airline began with 70 flights per week to Amman, Beirut, Chittagong, Doha, Kathmandu, Kuwait and Muscat .

2009

Looking at the above table, the company expands its destinations from 5 to 11 and its network covers 21103 km of unduplicated routes.

2010

Fly Dubai expands its Middle East services : Muscat, Kuwait, Assiout, Erbil (its first Iraqi destinations) etc..., Abha ( 1st Saudi Arabian destination) , and enters the Pakistani Market ( karachi ) , India with Lucknow although plans to Chandirgah and Coimbatore were made, they were never realized due to rights issues,. Flights to the ex Russian republics were launched to Armenia and Turkmenistan . At the end of the year, the network grows to 30 destinations in 24 countries and covers 57638 km .

2011

Emphasis is given to developing its regional network : Port Sudan, Addis Abeba, Yanbu, Ryadh, Jeddah, Damman, ....Ukraine : Kiev, Donetsk...., Georgia, Serbia, India, Bangladesh. At the end of the year, the network grows to 46 destinations and covers 99619 km.

2012

Sees a marked expansion in the regional market with new Iraqi and Saudi Arabian destinations , whereas European destinations include Bucharest and Skopje. Sadly, Lattakieh leaves the network.The fleet consisted of 28 Boeing 737-800 and the network covers 115784 km

2013

Is characterized by an expansion to the West/North-West of Dubai. Of the 17 new destinations launched in 2013, 9 are located in Europe/Russia/Tajikistan/Kirghystan, the others are more or less distributed between regional and Pakistani destinations. Due to the un-going civil unrest in Syria, all flights to this country were discontinued in 2013. The company launches on selected routes a business class ( 3 rows , 2 x2 , 174 seats instead of 189). In 2013, the company carries 6.82 million passengers versus 5.1 million in 2012 and its network length covers 151215 km and 2192 km average sector length.

2014

The year sees the entry of the airline into the African market with flights to Entebbe, Bujumbera and Kigali as well as destinations in Tanzania : Dar-Es-Salam, Kilimandjaro and Zanzibar ( both via Dar-Es-Salam) . Kigali and Bujumbera would be served through a stop in Entebbe while 2 dog leg segments will be operated Dubai-Port-Sudan-Khartoum-Dubai and Dubai-Osh-Duschambe-Dubai before the service to Osh is canceled.The year marks the airline first flights to Iran : Tehran and Mashad and the expansion in eastern Europe continues unrelentessly with flights to Sarajevo, Zagreb, Bratislava ,Sofia, Prague. 4 new Indian destinations are launched during the year and 7.25 million passengers choose to fly with the company. The network length reaches 197957 km . The fleet numbered 43 Boeing 737-800 against 36 in 2013.

2015

The company sees new opportunities in Iran where no less than 6 routes will be launched during the year : Ahwaz, Hamadan, Bandar Abbas, Isfahan , Tabriz and Lar. Expansion into Russia continues with Novosibirsk, Nizhny Novgorod , being the newest destinations, Saudi Arabia is a market of choices with Najran, Aljouf, Gizan joining the FlyDubai's network which reach a record high of 217883 km. Male on the Maldive islands sees a dog legged service Dubai-Male-Colombo-Dubai and Dubai-Colombo-Male-Dubai. 7 new boeing 737-800 were delivered to the company in 2015

2016

The only new route launched was to Bangkok, where as Kigali, Bujumbera, Nizhny Novgorod, Ufa , Shiraz and Zagreb were discontinued. Fleet is made of 57 Boeing 737-800 .
On 19 March 2016, Flydubai Flight 981, a Boeing 737-800 operating from Dubai to Rostov-on-Don in Russia, crashed during a go-around in inclement weather at Rostov-on-Don Airport. All 55 passengers and 7 crew on board died in the accident. It was the first fatal accident in the airline's history. The cause is currently under investigation

2017

Shiraz and Ufa are reappearing on the airline's network as well as new destinations in Russia : Makhachkala, Voronezh, Sheremetyevo is served along Vnukovo a . Ahwaz and Doha are discontinued. Podgorica in Montenegro is launched via Sarajevo. Seasonal flights are launched to Qabala (Azerbaihan), Tivat and Batumi. Flights are resumed to Kilimandjaro on a triangular basis : Dubai-Dar-Es-Salam-Kilimandjaro-Dubai and Dubai-Kilimandjaro-Dar-Es-Salam-Dubai. .In September 2017, flights to Erbil and El Sulaimaniyah were canceled after the decision of the Iraqi government to close both airports. The company places a huge order for 175 B737 MAX
10.9 million passengers are carried versus 10.4 in 2016.
At the end of 2017, the fleet consisted of 55 B737-800 of which 12 in a 189-seat all Y combination, 43 in a 12C and 162Y seats combination and 6 B737-800MAX in a 10C 156Y seat combination

2018

A string of cancelations and discontinued operations hit the company with, Tehran, Bandar Abbas, Bangkok, Dhaka, Hofuf, Aljouf, Yanbu, Male ,Podgorica , Chittagong, no longer served. Sylhet services will be canceled by September 2018. New destinations include Kinshasa via Entebbe, Krakow, Catania, Thessaloniki and Helsinki (to be launched in October 2018). Emirates airlines started to code share with Fly Dubai on selected routes : Muscat, Prague, Sofia, Kuwait . Seasonal flights are introduced to Kutaisi and Dubrovnik in addition to seasonal flights to Batumi, Qabala and Tivat. Flights to Erbil and El Sulaymaniyah are resumed after both airports opened to international operations in March 2018.

DESTINATIONS