Air Arabia convenes founding General Assembly

The quorum was met with the presence of around 56.43 per cent of shareholders. The Assembly resulted in the unanimous adoption of all items on the agenda including the election of the seven member Board of Directors and the appointment of the Company's Auditors.

At the Assembly, shareholders approved the report on the incorporation of the Company and the expenses incurred; ratified the evaluation of in-kind shares; adopted the Company's Articles and Memorandum of Association; and declared complete all formalities necessary for the incorporation of the Company.

Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Al Thani, Chairman of Air Arabia, said: "Today's Founding General Assembly represents a milestone in the ongoing development of Air Arabia. We look forward to shortly becoming the first airline in the Middle East and North Africa to become a publicly listed company, another signal event in this great regional success story."

Air Arabia's first Board of Directors (in alphabetical order) was elected unanimously at the Assembly and includes: Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohamed Al Thani, Adel Abdullah Ali, Abdulwahab Mohammad Al Roomi, Arif Naqvi, Ghanem Mohamed Al Hajri, Mustafa Ahmad Talat Abdel Wadood, Taryam Matar Taryam.

The appointment of Deloitte & Touche as Company Auditors was also approved unanimously. Air Arabia will be listed on the Dubai Financial Market upon the completion of the remaining incorporation procedures.

Air Arabia's net profit for the three months ending March 31, 2007, stood at AED 43.4 million. For the same period, the company posted a turnover of AED 252 million. The airline served 580,000 passengers during the same period.

The company's net profit increased 33 per cent between the fourth quarter of 2006 and the first quarter of 2007. During the same period, passenger traffic increased 17 per cent.