DUBAI – As one of the main participants at this year's Arab Travel Market 2015, flydubai the fastest growing startup airline in the world expects to see continuing growth and diversification across various parts of the Kingdome of Saudi Arabia, according to Ghaith Al Ghaith, CEO, flydubai. Meeting him despite his busy schedule of media interviews at the elegant booth of Flydubai held in hall 2 at the Dubai World Trade Centre, Al Ghaith expressed his perspective on how the UAE's second LCC (low-cost carrier) is spreading its wings and how it became the fastest growing startup airline in the world. He said “our vision since 2009 was to build a unique network that not only offered real value for passengers.” Explaining his overall outlook for growth in the Gulf markets, he said: “We expect to see continuing growth and diversification across the GCC region, and we think sectors such as aviation, tourism, trade and logistics will continue to play an increasingly important role.” Speaking about their participation at ATM 2015, Al Gaith said: "We are excited to make our 4th year ATM and we are using the exhibition to promote our network, fleet and services to a global audience of travel and tourism professionals. There has been interactive demonstrations of our great onboard product showing our new services and feature that we delivering to our." He added that the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) has played a pivotal role in the development and success of the region's travel and tourism industry. He noted that flydubai is expanding its services to Saudi Arabia with 12 destinations. “We really appreciate their continuous support and we are honored to have the opportunity to further expand our network in Saudi Arabia,” he added. He told Saudi Gazette that things have been going smoothly for them in the Saudi market. “Saudi Arabia is our big brother and its officials have been very cooperative and helpful, and we hope to launch new routes and increase the frequency of flights to a number of Saudi destinations.” On the airline's latest technology, the CEO of flydubai said “from the latest technology on board our aircraft we are able to have access, through the inflight entertainment system, to every passenger and hear their views. The data we are capturing shows travel patterns as well as behaviors and importantly helps us to drive innovation to meet our passengers' expectations. The timeliness of this analysis and our emphasis of putting the customer experience at the core of our operations give us a unique insight to our passengers. This keeps us focused on what is important to the passenger.” “Today, flydubai's role in the aviation sector is being recognized beyond the region, which is really something significant. Recording its profitability for the third consecutive full year, the 2014 results show that the record order for more aircraft as well as investments in the offering on the ground, and in the air have been the right strategy for the airline.” Al Gaith disclosed “we are starting to prepare for the new deliveries in 2016 and the first deliveries of the 737 MAX 8s in 2017 bringing further efficiency to our fleet." Sudhir Sreedharan, Senior Vice President Commercial for GCC, Subcontinent and Africa, said: “We are delighted to be given the opportunity to better serve the market of Saudi Arabia and we are committed to bringing flydubai's high quality and reliable services to underserved markets.” He said Saudi market has been a very potential market for flydubai, “ But we are still need more excess.” The airline hosted around 30 journalists and 500 leading travel agents from across its network of more than 90 destinations in 46 countries. Recently, flydubai was named ‘Best Regional Airline serving the Middle East' at the 2015 Business Traveller Middle East Awards held in Dubai on 03 May. Voted by readers of the magazine, the distinction reflects how flydubai's expanding network, evolving business model, new fleet and commitment to serving underserved markets has been acknowledged by passengers in just five years.
