Air Arabia, the first and largest low-cost carrier (LCC) in the Middle East and North Africa, announced today its financial results for the nine months ending September 30, 2013, demonstrating the long-term sustainability of its business model and appeal of its low-cost services.

Air Arabia’s net profit for the first nine months of this year stood at AED 341 million, in line with the net profits recorded for the corresponding period of 2012. During the first nine months of 2013, the company registered a turnover of AED 2.3 billion, 14 per cent increase compared to AED 2 billion during the same period of 2012. The low-cost pioneer registered a 15 per cent increase in passenger traffic to 4.5 million during the nine month of 2013. The average seat load factor – or passengers carried as a percentage of available seats – for the same quarter stood at an impressive 81 per cent.

“Air Arabia is pleased to announce yet another nine months of solid financial performance, achieved despite the continued political instability affecting the regional travel market” said Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Al Thani, Chairman of Air Arabia. “From our foundation, through the listing of the company on the DFM, to today when the low cost travel market celebrates a decade of success, delivering value for all our stakeholders has been at the heart of our strategy. Air Arabia’s robust financial performance, a function of our high seat load factor and operational excellence, further reflects the airline’s continued focus on generating profitable growth through innovation and excellent services.”

Sheikh Abdullah Al Thani continued. “As we mark our tenth anniversary, we will increasingly focus on our business expansion strategy, whilst continuing to introduce innovative low-cost travel solutions that have benefitted nearly 40 million passengers that we have served since inception. I look forward to reporting another period of growth and value for all our stakeholders at the year end.”

Air Arabia’s net profit for the three months ending September 30, stood at AED 206 million, nine per cent lower than AED 226 million recorded during the same period last year. The drop in third quarter net profits is mainly driven by travel seasonality with the month of Ramdan having occurred in July - August this year. Turnover for the third quarter of this year reached AED 854 million, an increase of six per cent as compared to AED 804 million in the same period of last year. Air Arabia carried 1.5 million passengers in the third quarter of 2013, an increase of 11 per cent compared to the same period of last year.

In the third quarter of 2013, Air Arabia took delivery of two A320 aircraft from Airbus, and expects additional delivery of two before the end of the year.

This quarter has also seen Air Arabia launching operations to Hail in Saudi Arabia, and Lar and Mashhad in Iran. The airline also unveiled plans to introduce service to few destinations in Saudi Arabia before the end of this year.