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Sharjah-headquartered Air Arabia PJSC (AIRARABI:DFM), the largest low-cost carrier operator in the Middle East and North Africa, has signed a leasing agreement with U.S.-based Air Lease Corporation (ALC) for six Airbus A321neo long range aircraft. The long range airliners are built with the Airbus A321 new engine option, featuring CFM International engines.
The 215-seat passenger jets will be delivered from 2019 and will be the first Airbus A321 aircraft to be join Air Arabia’s fleet. Air Arabia currently operates a fleet of 50 Airbus 320 aircraft and expects to take delivery of three more A320s next year, plus a further six A320s in 2019. The new A321neos are expected to boost the airline’s long range capacity, allowing it to open new routes to Asian destinations such as China, Malaysia and Thailand.
Air Arabia now operates flights to over 130 destinations across the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Asia, and Europe from its five international hubs. This year, the airline has added new permanent international routes from Sharjah to Baku (Azarbajian), Batumi (Georgia), Hargeisa (Somaliland) and Sohar (Oman)
Air Arabia began operations in October 2003 from its main hub at Sharjah International Airport in the UAE and now has additional international hubs at Amman’s Queen Alia International Airport in Jordan, Casablanca’s Mohammed V International Airport in Morocco, Alexandria’s Borg Al Arab International Airport in Egypt and Ras Al Khaimah International Airport in the UAE.
More than 8.4 million passengers flew with Air Arabia in 2016, a 12 percent increase on the previous year, while the airline served more than 6.5 million passengers during the first nine months of 2017 with an average load factor of 80 percent.
Source: Air Arabia
