The ruler of Dubai has ordered the creation of a new low-cost airline to serve the growing number of passengers traveling through the Gulf trade and tourism hub, the official WAM news agency said on Tuesday. Dubai, one of seven emirates comprising the United Arab Emirates, already has the largest Arab airline, Emirates, which will run the new low-cost airline, the report said. The new carrier plans to lease or buy single-aisle aircraft and will begin operations within a year, Emirates chairman said. ?There is a need for it in the region,? Shaikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al-Maktoum told Reuters by telephone, adding that it will fly to destinations between four to four and half hours away from Dubai. The neighboring emirate of Sharjah is home to Air Arabia, the Middle East?s biggest low-cost carrier. WAM said Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, who is also the prime minister and vice president of the UAE, said the new airline should price its services to passengers based on ?the economic and living conditions to suit their incomes.? Dubai International Airport, the busiest airport in the Middle East, saw international passenger traffic grow 19 percent last year. It handled 34.34 million passengers. Dubai is building a new airport on the other side of town that it expects will be the biggest in the world. Ghaith Al-Ghaith, executive vice president for commercial operations at Emirates, has been appointed chief executive of the new airline, which will be part of the Emirates Group. While setting fares structure, the company will be taking the financial and living conditions of passengers into consideration. Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, head of Dubai Civil Aviation and chairman of the Emirates Group, said Sheikh Mohammed?s instruction will be put in place with immediate effect. Services will be low cost out of Sheikh Mohammed?s sincere keenness to ease burden of living conditions of passengers and enable them to reunite with their families and relatives at home, Sheikh Ahmed added. __
