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Air Arabia Abu Dhabi, the low-cost joint venture between Air Arabia and Etihad Airways, marks its second anniversary since its inception this week and plans to significantly grow its business in the coming period, including in the Balkans. business. Air Arabia Abu Dhabi is currently focused on the Middle East and Indian subcontinent markets, with a fleet of eight Airbus A320 narrow-body aircraft serving 24 destinations. It will transport about 1 million passengers this year. “As the world reopens, we will focus on more and more routes,” said Adel Abdulla Ali, the airline’s chief executive. “We’re going to circle around Abu Dhabi and in four to six hours we’ll find anywhere that has potential and we’re willing to do those routes, including Europe,” Mr Ali added.
Arabian Air Abu Dhabi’s only destination in the former Yugoslavia is Sarajevo, which offers seasonal service during the summer, however, despite competition from Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, there is room for further growth and the airline currently maintains flights to Sarajevo and Belgrade flights. Arabian Air Abu Dhabi is expected to take over several former and current Etihad routes operated by single-aisle aircraft in the near future. Etihad Airways had been serving the Serbian capital until the start of the coronavirus pandemic, returning briefly in summer 2020. In 2019, it carried 114.256 passengers between the two cities. The low-cost airline aims to supply passengers on Etihad’s long-haul network, with the Serbian capital presenting itself as a potential future route.
Since the start of the pandemic, Skopje has had no direct service to the Gulf, neither with Flydubai nor Qatar Airways, which has previously been operating in the Macedonian capital, including cities in their respective upcoming winter networks. Last year, the Macedonian government announced the launch of flights to Abu Dhabi via Wizz Air. However, this service never materialized. Dubai, on the other hand, has become one of the busiest unserviced routes in Pristina, and Abu Dhabi is a potential option.
Air Arabia’s results in the former Yugoslavia were mixed. While it has successfully served Sarajevo from Sharjah and Abu Dhabi over the past few years, in 2011 the budget airline launched a twice-weekly service from Dubai to Tuzla, but due to extremely poor loads , cancelled after a month. In 2012, the airline launched two weekly flights between Sharjah and Pristina. The service was also discontinued within a month. In 2019, the airline scheduled four weekly flights between Sharjah and Belgrade, which were to be launched in June of that year. However, ticket sales stopped after four months and the route never opened.
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