Dubai's first low cost carrier lands in Amman
A new era in budget travel between Amman and Dubai started today when flydubai, Dubai’s first low cost airline, landed at Queen Alia International Airport after its inaugural flight between the two countries.
Flight FZ-151, operated by one of two Boeing 737-800s in flydubai’s fleet, took off at 10:25 UAE time from Dubai International Airport and landed in Amman at 12:50 local time, a journey of 3 hours and 25 minutes.
The start of the daily service reinforces flydubai’s intention to be at the heart of budget air travel in the Middle East. The new route opens the doors on two highly sought after tourist destinations and provides an important business link.
The first flight’s 189 passengers, including flydubai COO Mr. Ken Gile, were greeted on arrival by a VIP reception committee including Amer Al Hadidi, Jordanian Minister of Industry & Trade, Sahel Al Majali, Jordanian Minister of Transportation and Mr. Curtis Grad, CEO of Airport International Group.
Mr Al Majali described the occasion as the beginning of another great bond with the UAE.
“We are delighted to welcome flydubai services from Dubai. The opportunity for residents of both nations to travel is now much greater and flydubai will certainly play an extremely large part in bringing our people together for business and for pleasure.”
Jordanian Minister of Industry & Trade, Amer Al Hadidi believes flydubai can add even more value to the business communities.
“The commercial agreements we have with the United Arab Emirates make it our greatest trading partner and one of our closest Arab friends. flydubai is a great way for us to bring Jordanians and Emiratis even closer together,” he said.
From the UAE, special guests H.E. Eng. Sultan Saeed AlMansoori, UAE Minister of Economy, Jamal Al Hai, SVP Strategy & Development, DCA and Member of the Federal National Council of the UAE, and Ghaith Al Ghaith, CEO of flydubai, also greeted the arrival.
Mr Al Ghaith said flydubai was fulfilling its promise to make travel a little less complex, a little less stressful and a little less expensive. “flydubai’s second route is another step on the way to becoming the preferred low cost carrier for the Middle East,” he said. “We have a great commitment to our customers and a very simple aim – to give people more opportunity to get together regularly.
“We began our first day of operations flying to Beirut yesterday, and Amman is the perfect complement to this, as such a popular and important tourist destination,” he added.
Business between the two countries is also becoming increasingly important with bilateral trade last year rising to US$500 million. The UAE is one of the largest investors in Jordan, with interests worth more than US$2 billion. This is expected to rise to more than US$15 billion over the next four years thanks to the US$10 billion Marsa Zayed real estate development in Aqaba, the largest single project in Jordan’s recent history.
After launching services to Amman and Beirut, flydubai will begin daily flights to Damascus on 8 June and Alexandria on 9 June. More destinations will be announced in the near future.
Customers wishing to book their flights with flydubai can do so via the internet at www.flydubai.com and through the call centre on 06 550 7660.
