Dubai: Budget airline flydubai is flying at 65 per cent of its pre-COVID-19 capacity prior to the closure of crucial source markets India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal, according to the CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith.
“We were doing very well because we were achieving a load factor of 73 per cent (last year),” said Al Ghaith. “We did not operate any flight without covering our costs – because that would be murder.” The airline chief said he was optimistic about summer – “The biggest question would be: which country will be open?”
Unpaid leave
Flydubai had given its employees the option to go on unpaid leave or take a redundancy scheme. “And 97 per cent of the people (who were approached) chose to take the unpaid leave – it was a commitment from the people that they wanted to stick with the airline,” said Al Ghaith.
Government participation
To chart the airline industry’s path forward, UAE’s regulators worked closely with the country’s airlines. “We were involved in the decision making from day one,” said Al Ghaith. “No decision was made without consulting, without going through a process. We have a process… where there are three different stages, and we are represented in each of these levels.”
The discussions ranged from ground handling staff to aviation regulations, said Al Ghaith. flydubai has begun flying its Boeing 737MAX aircraft after getting the green light from…