Air Arabia has accelerated six Airbus A320 deliveries from its 2007 order as the Middle East budget carrier prepares to launch in March a new operation in Egypt.
Air Arabia in 2007 ordered 44 A320s for delivery from 2012. Chief executive Adel Ali says the first two aircraft from this order are now scheduled to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2010 with another four aircraft to be delivered in 2011.
Ali says deferrals by other A320 operators have given Air Arabia the opportunity to move up six delivery slots from 2012 to 2010 and 2011. He says the carrier is now looking at potentially further accelerating its order to give it mores 2011 slots.
"We talk to Airbus every week," Ali told Flight Daily News after signing at the show a $36 million auxiliary power unit contract with Honeywell. "The downturn in the market has freed up slots, which helps our growth."
Honeywell has been tapped to supply its 131-9A APU for all 44 of the A320s ordered by Air Arabia. Ali says the carrier now uses another APU supplier on its current fleet of 21 A320s, which include 17 leased and four purchased aircraft.
Ali says Air Arabia is now committed to leasing four additional A320s next year, which will be delivered before the first of the ordered aircraft is delivered in October. Two of these aircraft will be used to launch Air Arabia Egypt in March. Ali says the new Egyptian operation is likely to be based in Alexandria and serve routes to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.
Ali says Air Arabia Morocco, a Casablanca-based operation that was launched earlier this year, will also expand its fleet in 2010 from three to five A320s. Air Arabia's main operation, which is based in Sharjah, is now due to expand its fleet from 18 to 20 A320s next year.
Ali says Air Arabia is talking to lessors about potentially leasing more aircraft in 2010 to support faster expansion in Egypt and Morocco. But he adds that Air Arabia, which expects to end 2009 slightly in the black, will be cautious and will be careful not to expand too fast.
"The market is not the best right now. There is certainly a lot of pressure on yields," Ali says. "Under the circumstances we've done pretty well but 2009 has been challenging and 2010 is an unknown."
Source: Flight Daily News
