SITA INC enters the low-fare carrier market as Air Arabia takes its suite of flight briefing services

Air Arabia is the first, and presently the only low cost carrier operating in the Middle East & North Africa. Air Arabia operates five Airbus A320 aircraft with three more on order for 2006. Destinations served are Alexandria, Assiut, Sharm El Sheikh and Luxor (Egypt); Bahrain; Beirut (Lebanon); Colombo (Sri Lanka); Aleppo and Damascus (Syria); Doha (Qatar); Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia); Kuwait; Mumbai (India); Muscat (Oman); Khartoum (Sudan) and Sana'a (Yemen).

Adel Ali, Chief Executive Officer of Air Arabia, said: "For regional and low fare carriers, the intensive nature of these operations means that any fuel savings, no matter how small, can add up to significant numbers. The flexibility of the SITA INC system coupled with its cost management modules presented a compelling argument to us."

"The system has rich functionality and recognises the impact high fuel prices are having on airlines. Our Flight Briefing Services package emulates industry best practice for fuel and environmental management as recommended by IATA in its Fuel Action Plan. We are very pleased to be working with Air Arabia which has been very successful in its first year of operation," said Jamal El-Hoss Vice President, SITA INC for the Middle East, Africa, South & Central Asia.

"The need to load onward sector fuel is compelling to limit time-consuming refuelling. However, the varying price of fuel may mean that loading additional fuel to protect punctuality is a costly decision. Dynamically assessing the various factors, our tankering module can provide significant cost savings. These benefits can be particularly evident where aircraft utilisation is high; a characteristic of the low-fare carrier market." said Jamal El-Hoss, Vice President, SITA INC Middle East, Africa, South & Central Asia," El-Hoss explained.

Coupled with a fully relational navigation database, an advanced optimisation route package, consideration of overflight charges and analysis of fuel and time costs, the system offers all the tools necessary to fully optimise an airlines operation.