Exclusive

flydubai to operate flights to Mattala

Shirajiv SIRIMANE

flydubai is the first airline to make a firm commitment to operate flights to Sri Lanka’s second international airport in Mattala Hambantota. flydubai, CEO, Ghaith Al Ghaith in an exclusive interview with ‘Daily News Business’ said that the airline held several positive discussions in this regard with Sri Lanka authorities and said that they will be flying to Hambantota when the new airport opens.

flydubai launched flights to Colombo in July 2010 with four flights a week. This frequency was made daily from March 11, 2012. “We want to add more flights to Colombo and this is why we want to fly to Mattala,” he said.

Ghaith Al Ghaith

Airline traffic into Colombo grew by 125% in 2011 and this was the reason we moved to a daily frequency,” he said. He said that Colombo is one of the best markets for the airline and they would keep nursing Colombo. With the carrier increasing flights to a daily service from its base at Dubai Terminal 2, flydubai is set to further support the government’s directive to bring in 2.5 million visitors a year by 2016.

Sri Lanka currently draws 800,000 international travellers, with more than 60,000 arriving with flydubai last year.

The airline is currently connecting Colombo to four major cities in the CIS region, Kiev and Donetsk in Ukraine, Samara in Russia and the capital of Armenia, Yerevan. “This helps the Sri Lankan tourism in a great way as Russian tourists are high spenders and long stayers,” he said.

In addition the airline also caters to the 300,000 strong Sri Lankan expats living in the UAE by offering the lowest fares and the best service. flydubai is unique in this way since we cater to business,leisure and lower income travelers.

Commenting on the Colombo airport he said that it is ‘wonderfully’managed, clean and would name it as one of the most efficient airports in the region. “Credit should go to the Airport and Aviation Services Ltd,” he said.

“It was also the first airline to install the revolutionary ‘Fiber-To-The-Screen’ offering streaming movies in high definition. We also have a on board duty free,” he said. flydubai, also cemented its position as the world's fastest growing start-up airline ever with the start of flights to its 50th destination in less than three years.

Having worked for Emirates for 22 years, Al Ghaith commenting on the flydubai model said that it is a UAE home grown model and emphasized that they don’t get any favours, hand outs or concessions form the government.

flydubai fleet

“We pay the same amount that other airlines pay for fuel.“We are happy and proud to carry the United Arab Emirates flag with us and having being branded as the low cost airline of Dubai. Today we are one of the fasted growing airlines in the world and would keep on adding frequencies and looking at new destinations. We are not to long haul and would keep on maintaining that model,” he added.

The low cost airline recently launched its new car rental service allowing passengers to book a vehicle and then drive away anywhere in the world. Established in March 2008, flydubai is Dubai’s first low-cost airline and the fastest growing start-up airline in the world. Since commencing operations in June 2009, the airline has established an operational route network of more than 45 destinations across GCC, Middle East, North Africa, Indian Subcontinent, Asia and the fringes of Europe and has built up a fleet of 23aircraft.

Owned by the government of Dubai, the low-cost carrier supports the city’s commercial and tourism sectors by serving all travellers and providing them with affordable air links to a range of destinations. The airline is dedicated to quality service and comfortable travel, lowering costs by optimizing operational efficiencies and offering the passenger more choice.

He said that the low cost carriers have helped more people to travel and it is helping to make the world a smaller place.