UAE's low-cost airline to start operations from its Moroccan hub in early 2009
5/11/2008 16:28
Air Arabia, a Sharjah-based low-cost airline of the United Arab Emirates
(UAE), plans to start operations from its second hub in Morocco's Casablanca in
early 2009, local newspaper Gulf News reported today.
According to the plan,
a new airline named "Air Arabia Maroc" will be launched to provide services to
Morocco's domestic destinations and selected destinations in Europe and
Africa.
"With our new hub in Morocco, we will now be able to expand our
coverage across EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) markets. Work on the
Casablanca hub is in full swing and operations will begin early next year," Air
Arabia chairman Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammad Al Thani was quoted as
saying.
In addition to further strengthening its operations in Sharjah, a
northern emirate of the UAE, Air Arabia are also seeking to capitalize on the
potential in North Africa and southern Europe, he added.
Air Arabia announced
last November that it would set up a new hub in Morocco after signing a
management agreement with Regional Air Lines, the leading private carrier in
MorocCo
Air Arabia will assume management control and apply its business
model to the management of the newly established Air Arabia Maroc.
Launched
in October 2003 and modeled after leading American and European low-cost
carriers, Air Arabia is the first and largest low-cost carrier in the Middle
East and North Africa.
It currently provides services to 41 destinations in
the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, Central Asia and Eastern
Europe.
Xinhua
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