After low-cost, start-up airline Flydubai placed a nearly $4 billion order for Boeing 737-800s at the 2008 Farnborough Airshow, just as the global recession reared its ugly head, I penned a column questioning whether this and other blockbuster orders would ever come to fruition. Little did I know that more than three years later I would be dining with the airline’s leadership at Dubai’s Souk Al Bahar shopping complex, admiring the magnificent, 160-story Burj Khalifa and discussing 737NGs received and yet to come, new routes opened and cabins launched.
Flydubai has received 20 of the 50 original 737s ordered from Boeing—four others were to be leased—and was expecting its next delivery in December. All aircraft will be delivered by 2016. The government-owned carrier now serves 45 destinations, including Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Yekaterinburg, Russia; Colombo, Sri Lanka, and Chittagong, Bangladesh. One-way fare to Chittagong from Dubai costs 460 Emirati Dirhams, or $125.
