UAE’s flydubai 2021 profit rebounds above pre-pandemic levels

United Arab Emirates carrier flydubai swung to a profit of 841 million dirhams ($229 million) last year surpassing pre-pandemic figures as demand increased after travel curbs eased globally, it said on Monday.

The profit compared with a loss of 712.6 million dirhams in 2020 when the airline, which lacks a domestic market, was hit by international closures imposed because of the COVID-19 crisis.

Revenue jumped 86% to 5.3 billion dirhams.

The profit figures even topped the 198.2 million dirhams reported in 2019.

Commenting on the announcement of the airline’s Full-Year Results for 2021, His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of flydubai, said:

“The tremendous results flydubai is reporting for 2021 come after a very challenging two years as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.  The decisions taken by the UAE’s leadership, which saw the implementation of the precautionary safety measures throughout the customer journey, gave visitors the confidence to travel to Dubai; resulting in a 76% year-on-year increase in passenger numbers.  We remain well placed to continue to welcome passengers across our network to Dubai and beyond.  flydubai is intrinsic to Dubai’s travel and tourism industry.”

Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer at flydubai, commenting on flydubai’s 2021 Annual Results, said:

“flydubai’s business model remains strong and has served us well through the pandemic.  As demand returned these strong fundamentals have translated into a significant improvement in our financial performance.  This achievement has been made possible by the commitment of our hardworking employees combined with our business agility.”

Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer at flydubai, commenting on the travel restrictions that were in place across its network, said:

“A challenge that remained throughout 2021 was the constant changes to the travel restrictions.  This meant that passengers did not have the confidence to book travel early, however they continued to travel with a shorter booking window ahead of their date of travel.  During the second half of the year, travel restrictions began to ease which led to an increase in demand for travel across our network.  We launched flights to seasonal summer destinations to offer more options for passengers and the increase in our flight schedule in the second half of the year supported the demand for inbound travel to Dubai.”

The carrier carried 5.6 million passengers during the year, representing a 76% rise from the last year with the number of flights surpassing pre-pandemic levels in December when the airline operated 6,430 flights.

The flydubai fleet expanded by eight jets to 59 aircraft in 2021.