Airport News
Low-budget carrier FlyDubai will begin receiving the first of six planes from Boeing in May ahead of its first flights in June, as it looks to boost tourism in former-boomtown Dubai.
The Dubai government-owned airline ordered 54 Boeing single-aisle 737 aircraft in a deal worth around $4 billion in November. It ordered 50 of the planes from Boeing and four from leasing company Babcock & Brown.
The airline, the fifth budget carrier to operate in the Gulf Arab region, will commence operations with flights to Lebanon and Jordan.
Although official statistics from the Dubai's international airport show passenger traffic is still rising — up 6 percent in January to 3.3 million travellers — other measures suggest tourism is falling as the global financial crisis sweeps across the region.
