São Paulo – Budget carrier Air Arabia saw its net profit drop 24% in Q2 2018, according to news website Gulf News. The decline was driven by lower profit margins and fuel higher costs, according to the company, which is based in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
Profit from April to June stood at AED 120 million (USD 32.6 million), against AED 158.5 million (USD 43.1 million) in the same period of 2017. In the year’s first half, the carrier’s profit reached AED 230 million (USD 62.6 million), a decline of 12% in the same comparison.
The company reported that profit slid due to the economic pressure faced by airlines in Q2 2018, caused by lower profit margins, fuel higher prices and changes in traffic seasonality.
Despite the smaller profit, Air Arabia saw a 4% increase in revenues in Q2 2018 to AED 938 million (USD 255.3 million). In H1 2018, the airline’s revenues totaled AED 1.8 billion (USD 490 million), up 5.8% over the same months of 2017.
The carrier’s president, Abdullah Bin Mohammad Al Thani, said that Air Arabia faced many challenges in Q2 and that trading conditions in the aviation market continue to be influenced by regional geopolitical and economic challenges, but the outlook for low-cost travel in the region remains very strong.
From April to June of this year, the airline carried 2.05 million passengers. In H1, 4.2 million people traveled with the carrier.
Air Arabia is a budget carrier that flies to over 150 destinations in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe. The airline has a fleet of 53 aircrafts and recently received two A380 Airbus. This year, the company already received 12 new aircrafts.
Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
