Air Arabia flies to success in a business-focused way — Ali

AMMAN — Upon considering patterns and costs of travel in the region, it was obviously a viable investment to establish a low-cost carrier, an aviation investor told The Jordan Times on Monday. 

Adel Ali, chief executive officer (CEO) of Sharjah-based Air Arabia Group, said in an interview that low-cost aviation companies, including Air Arabia, have been the most profitable businesses in the aviation sector, attributing the success to being business focused. 

"We are determined to carry the maximum number of passengers and not to spend money on extras people do not want," he added. "Flying is not primarily for eating food." 

According to Ali, the price paid in the past by Middle East passengers travelling within the region was higher than that for passengers who were in transit. 

"More than 10 years ago, and prior to the introduction of low-cost carriers, there were only a few airlines serving the region, and they provided better prices for longer routes, making shorter ones more expensive," he explained.

So, for us, the fact that some people in the region were not even travelling was a good reason to insert the low-cost approach in the Middle East, Ali elaborated.

The CEO, who is Bahraini,  indicated that inter-regional flights is now easier and more connected prompting more people to travel.

"We launched Air Arabia in the United Arab Emirates in 2003 and the response was remarkable, because the country's multi-cultural population, 80 per cent of which come from different countries, always need to go back home and return," he said.

Ali was convinced that Air Arabia was a good choice as a name for the airline because that qualifies it to operate smoothly in the Arab world. The company has established hubs in Morocco and Egypt. 

Noting that the group had to position itself well geographically in order to link different areas in the region, he added that the low-cost carrier inaugurated in May 2015 a hub in Jordan due to Kingdom's closeness to East Europe.

"Jordan's membership in aviation agreements, such as the Open Sky Treaty with Europe allowing any Jordanian carrier to operate unlimited to any European airport, was a good reason for the group to set up offices in Amman," Ali elaborated.

Air Arabia Jordan has now flights to Kuwait, Jeddah, Erbil, Dammam and Sharm El Sheikh, with a new route to be announced soon to Medina Munawwara and another to Manama, he announced, noting that the entire group serves a total of 104 destinations in the world.

Aspiring to go for routes not run by Royal Jordanian, the CEO revealed that the airline applied to relevant authorities and was waiting for approvals to go for such destinations.

The group's hub in Jordan has a total of 100 employees, 99 of whom are Jordanians who can receive proper training to hold posts in other countries where group hubs have insufficient manpower.

"Over the past 12 years we simplified the aviation industry and contributed to stimulating the market where people who never travelled by air are now travelling every month," Ali  said.

He indicated  that the group has a fleet of 40 modern planes, two of which are based in Amman, and that another 40 are intended to join the fleet, noting that Amman's office operate some 23 flights a week, nine of which to Saudi Arabia alone.

"For us, we started with $13 million 12 years ago, and the group is now worth $2.6 billion," he boasted, describing that as a clear example of success in the industry.