CEO of Air Arabia reveals increase in aircrafts operating in UAE

In an interview with CNBC Arabiya, Mr. Ali stressed that there is no reduction in the expansion plans for Air Arabia as approved by the company in its five-year plan.

These expansion plans include four new planes to enter service into 2009 and the opening of a major station for the company in Casablanca, Morocco to transfer passengers to Europe and Africa.

Mr. Ali disclosed in the interview that future flight bookings for the airline during the months of January and February 2009 are very good.

The company's financial results will be announced during the coming weeks. Air Arabia is expected to announce good results for 2008, exceeding the previous year's in terms of operations and passenger numbers.

Mr. Ali also predicted that the low-fare airline industry will perform very well in 2009, due to the global economic situation and the trend of cost-cutting. These factors supplement the positive impact of lower fuel prices and the diverse range of nationalities living in the UAE leading to a continued increase in the number of passengers travelling.

He added that the company's current fleet consists of 18 aircrafts and will increase to 22 aircrafts in 2009, in addition to the 44 Airbuses entering service from mid-2010.

The region's first and premier 24-hour live Arabic Business TV channel, CNBC Arabiya, recently re-launched to include 12 new programmes. Along with a new programming schedule, the CNBC Arabiya re-launch reveals a brand new studio layout with more capacity for live links.