flydubai fuelling UAE tourism

flydubai, Dubai's low-cost airline, is playing a significant role in the UAE's fast-growing travel and tourism sector, new figures have revealed.

The World Travel and Tourism Council estimates that the direct contribution of travel and tourism to the UAE's GDP is expected to hit $19.9bn this year and is set to become increasingly important as a sector in driving the country's overall economic development.

Key to this growth has been the performance of flydubai, the world's fastest-ever growing start-up airline ever. New figures have been released covering the period from February 2011 to March 2012 that highlight the growth in its passenger numbers, particularly from the CIS, Eastern and Central Europe and GCC markets. Key statistics include: A 284 percent annual growth in passenger numbers from the CIS and Central Europe markets between February 2011 and March 2012, compared to the period of February 2010 and March 2011.

An 89 percent annual growth in passenger numbers from the GCC between February 2011 and March 2012, compared to the period of February 2010 and March 2011.

In just under three years, flydubai has launched operations to more than 45 destinations across 29 countries and is now the second-largest airline operating out of Dubai Airport. Crucially, it now has the most comprehensive network of all Middle Eastern carriers to Central and Eastern Europe and has opened up new markets that previously had no direct UAE air links.

The airline now has 78 regular flights per week to 13 different destinations in the CIS countries, Eastern and Central Europe, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Serbia, Turkmenistan and Ukraine. It is currently the only scheduled operator flying to Dubai from Belgrade, Donetsk and Kharkiv.

Latest figures from Dubai International Airport reveal that passenger traffic between Dubai and Russia in the first quarter of this year climbed 46 percent to 359,066, compared to 245,050 during the same period in 2011. This remarkable growth is being linked to flydubai's expansion to several cities in Russia and the CIS region which includes twice weekly flights to the Russian cities of Kazan, Ufa, Samara and Yekaterinburg.

flydubai's GCC network is also the largest of all Middle Eastern carriers, with 424 flights per week to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar. Within Saudi Arabia alone, the airline has 73 flights every week covering seven destinations. The airline is also the only scheduled operator flying from UAE to Abha, Gassim, Taif and Yanbu.

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