Air Arabia is looking to lessors as it sets to expand its fleet to 90 before the end of the year. The airline CEO Adel Abdullah, speaking to UAE's Gulf News, said that its orderbook of 120 aircraft, that was scheduled to be delivered towards the end of the year, has been pushed back to the second half of 2025. Ali cited geopolitical tensions and supply chain issues as the main drivers for the setback.
""To grow the business, we have leased airplanes,"" Ali told Gulf News. ""Last year, we got about 10. This year, we are getting about eight. We should be just over 90 airplanes by the end of 2024, which is within our target.""
In its first quarter 2024 report, the airline said it had a fleet of 74 Airbus aircraft; consisting of A320 and A321 aircraft. It also reported an 8% increase in revenues to 1.54bn dirhams ($419.3 million) and a 13% increase in passenger numbers to 4.4 million. However, its net profit had fallen 22% to 266 million dirhams ($72.4 million). Air Arabia's chairman Abdullah Bin Mohammad Al Thani said the airline was focusing on ""driving profitability and maintaining an efficient operation"" despite the ""ongoing economic and geopolitical uncertainty, seasonality impact on our business, fuel price volatility along with currency fluctuation and supply chain challenges"".
As the low-cost airline navigates these issues, the expansion of its fleet will facilitate its goal to expand its services to a broader customer base.
Air Arabia to expand fleet via leasing amid supply chain issues and geopolitical tensions
