Flydubai will take off from Terminal Two later in the year

Dubai's first budget airline, flydubai, will take off from Dubai International airport's Terminal Two when it starts its services later in the year, the airline said yesterday.

Flydubai was scheduled to start operations from Al Maktoum International airport in Jebel Ali's Dubai World Central development, but recently said it may kick off services from Dubai International, as Dubai Airports deferred the opening Al Maktoum International by one year, to mid-2010.

"In Terminal Two we have found an ideal home that will allow us to bring efficiencies to our operations and a range of facilities and benefits to our customers," said flydubai's Chief Executive Ghaith Al Ghaith.

The airline, being assisted by Emirates in its initial stages, said it is on schedule to launch its first few routes in mid-2009, operating a fleet of Boeing aircraft, each offering 189 economy class seats. It has 54 Boeing 737-800s on order, worth $4 billion (Dh14.6bn).

The airline said in a statement that launch routes will be announced shortly and will include a range of destinations within four-and-a-half-hour flying time from Dubai. "The airline's operations team is currently finalising routes, which are likely to include the Subcontinent, north and east Africa, southeast Europe and the Middle East," it said.

Meanwhile, an airline source had recently told Emirates Business that the airline plans to start operations with five aircraft scheduled for delivery in its first year of operations, to five Indian destinations including Pune, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Jaipur and Goa.

Al Ghaith had said that the airline's first aircraft was supposed to be delivered by April this year. But Boeing's 58-day machinist strike, which ended in October last year, had raised some concerns about the aircraft delivery delays for the carrier.


Facelift under way

In preparation for the launch of flydubai, the re-development of Terminal Two is well under way, with finishing touches being put to Phase One improvements this week.

According to Dubai Airports, Terminal Two – currently serving more than 25 scheduled airlines, is in the process of extending check-in and boarding facilities, and revitalising the interior and exterior décor to give customers an enhanced experience.

"The extended facility will increase capacity from the current three million to about five million passengers a year," Dubai International Airport said.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.