Flydubai doubles first-quarter passengers to 2.35 million as travel industry recovers – The National

Flydubai doubles first-quarter passengers to 2.35 million as travel industry recovers – The National

Low-cost airline flydubai carried 2.35 million passengers in the first-quarter of this year, up 114 per cent compared to the same period last year, as the travel industry continues to recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We have continued our growth in 2022 capitalising on the tremendous results we reported for 2021,” said Ghaith Al Ghaith, chief executive of flydubai, on Sunday.

“We have seen the number of passengers carried in the first quarter of this year more than double compared to the previous couple of years as we welcomed the world during Expo Dubai 2020, connected underserved markets to Dubai and added more frequencies around the network.”

Dubai, the tourism and commercial hub of the Middle East, successfully concluded Expo 2020 at the end of March with 24m visitors in six months, Issam Kazim, chief executive of Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing, said last month. The emirate hosted 2.2m visitors in the first two months of 2022, he added.

Air passenger traffic showed a strong rebound in February 2022, as the Omicron-related impact receded outside Asia, said the International Air Transport Association (Iata).

Passenger traffic in February grew nearly 116 per cent annually and was up almost 55 per cent