Tag Archives: Ghaith Al Ghaith

flydubai from Dubai International (DXB) landed at Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport (TLV) to a water salute.  The inaugural flight was flown by Captain Patrick Gonzenbach and Emirati First Officer, Abdulla Al Shamsi. On board the aircraft was a delegation led by Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer, flydubai. They were met on arrival by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, along with a delegation that included the CEO of Ben Gurion International Airport Shmuel Zakay and representatives from the aviation industry. Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer at flydubai, said: “Today’s inaugural flight sees the air transport agreement realised.  The creation of these direct air links will support the development of commercial ventures across a number of sectors helping to drive success and prosperity.  We look forward to welcoming the first passengers from Israel as they come to explore the UAE.” Jeyhun Efendi, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations and E-commerce, said, “Since we announced the launch of operations to Tel Aviv we have seen strong demand for services from both Israel and the UAE.  We received our first bookings from both tourists and business travellers shortly after the schedule was published. There is opportunity to further grow our double daily service.”  

flydubai announced the start of flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv from November 26, 2020. The carrier will operate 14 flights a week offering a double daily service between Dubai International (DXB) and Tel Aviv Ben Gurion (TLV) and flights are now available to be booked on flydubai.com. This announcement follows the air transport agreement that was recently signed by both countries as well as the start of passenger and cargo operations by other national carriers. In addition, there have been a number of bilateral visits as travel and tourism opportunities open-up. Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer at flydubai, said, “Since the launch of flydubai 11 years ago, we have been committed to removing barriers to travel, creating free flows of trade and tourism and enhancing connectivity between different cultures across our network. Following the recent bilateral agreement, the start of scheduled flights will contribute to economic development and create further opportunities for investment in pursuit of our shared interests and values. With the start of services there will be the option for increased accessibility to the UAE as well as onwards to the Indian Ocean, Far East and Africa reducing total journey times by several hours.”

flydubai announced the resumption of flights to Malé, Maldives. The service, which the carrier initially operated between 2013 and 2018, will be reinstated from October 27 due to popular demand as the Indian Ocean destination welcomed back tourists of all nationalities earlier this summer. flydubai flights will operate four times a week to Malé on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Flight FZ 1569 will depart from Terminal 3, Dubai International (DXB) at 10:35 and the return flight FZ 1570 will depart from Maldives’ Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (MLE) at 23:30 (local time). This brings the number of destinations flydubai operates to 40 across its network in Africa, Central Asia, Europe, Indian Subcontinent and the Middle East. Commenting on the start of flights to Malé, Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer at flydubai said, “We continue to see signs of recovery as more countries start to lift restrictions on international travel. Working together, all the stakeholders in the travel industry have a role to play to safeguard travel in this new environment enabling more people to travel confidently. We remain agile in our operations and committed to gradually adding more flights to further support the flow of trade and tourism around the region as we look ahead to this new way of travel in the months to come.” Sudhir Sreedharan, Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations (UAE, GCC, Africa and the Indian Subcontinent) at flydubai, said, “We are pleased to restart our operations to the Maldives. This has always been a popular destination for our passengers in the UAE, GCC and the Russian speaking markets who are seeking a beach holiday. With Holidays by flydubai expanding its hotels and ancillary offering, …

flydubai announced a partnership with its passengers as the airline prepares to return to the skies following the lifting of the flight restrictions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer of flydubai, said, “the effectiveness of the response to the pandemic led by the UAE Government has enabled the flight restrictions to be lifted. We appreciate that no effort has been spared as we see the precautionary measures eased.” Commenting on flydubai’s redesigned passenger journey, Al Ghaith said, “in these unprecedented times, we are very conscious of the role that we play as part of the global community in response to COVID-19. We have carefully reviewed the guidance and best practice published by a number of international organisations together with those of our regulator and our industry partners. We have further built on these which has resulted in a layering of measures by the authorities, the airport and flydubai. To realise the benefits of air travel is everyone’s responsibility. We recognise the importance of the role of the passenger in making these measures work. Together we have redefined a new way to travel which creates a partnership. It’s what we do together that will make this work.” Al Ghaith commented on the airline’s commitment to its passengers, “Our passengers have long enjoyed the benefits and convenience of air travel. As we move into this next phase, we recognise that it is our role to enable travel in a safe environment and the role of the passenger is to be prepared and ready to travel. Only by working together can the passenger make informed decisions to book their travel. They can be confident in knowing that …

Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) held a virtual meeting with key aviation and hospitality partners to discuss current and post-pandemic strategies and joint initiatives aimed at ensuring the tourism industry’s gradual return to normalcy. The meeting also discussed global efforts to minimise the transmission of COVID-19 and precautionary measures deployed to safeguard the health of communities across the UAE. His Excellency Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General, Dubai Tourism, commented, “It must be emphasised that the health and safety of our residents and guests will always remain our top priority as we continue to work with the industry and our government partners not just during this critical period but beyond, to develop innovative approaches, real-time responses, and proactive yet prudent initiatives to ensure that Dubai remains at the forefront of the world’s leading destinations in line with our strategy.” Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, said, “As health and hygiene standards will play an influential role in encouraging people to travel, we have put in place a set of health and safety protocols at our airports including all necessary quarantine arrangements and the implementation of sanitisation and disinfection measures to reassure tourists that Dubai is one of the safest destinations to visit. We will also continue to receive incoming flights from select destinations, operate cargo flights, as well as flights to repatriate expatriates and guests to their home destinations.” Adnan Kazim, Chief Commercial Officer at Emirates Airline, said, “Emirates commences passenger flights between Dubai and nine destinations from 21 May – London Heathrow, Frankfurt, Paris, Milan, Madrid, Chicago, Toronto, Sydney and Melbourne, and we will also offer connections in Dubai for customers travelling between the UK and …

flydubai will suspend its operations with effect from March 26, 2020 at 23:59 (UAE time) until April 9, 2020 at 23:59 (UAE Time) as part of the precautionary measures being implemented in response to COVID-19, following the announcement from the National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority (NCEMA) and the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA). The NCEMA contingency plan, benchmarking of industry best-practice and international guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO), the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHP) and Dubai Health Authority (DHA) provided the framework for flydubai’s own response plans to COVID-19. A number of working groups have been set up across the airline to support its operations for both its passengers and employees. Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer of flydubai, said, “Our operational focus may be changing in the short term but the work continues. We have reallocated internal resources to critical business needs, including the highest levels of customer support and care of our fleet, which has seen the activation of a large-scale maintenance and care programme to ensure that all our grounded aircraft are attended to at the highest international standards. We are seeing this period as an opportunity to recalibrate our business and our unrelenting focus is now on laying the groundwork, together, for a smooth full return to service in due course.” He added, “Since the beginning of March, we have received more than 80,000 customer enquiries. Our customer engagement team is working hard to respond to this unprecedented number of enquiries that we have received. They are supported by members of staff from different teams who have been deployed to ensure that all our customers receive a reply. My thoughts are particularly …

Thailand and Myanmar will become the latest two destinations to be added from December 2019 on flydubai. The airline will launch flights to Krabi in Thailand and Yangon in Myanmar, expanding its network to Southeast Asia. The new daily flights are codeshared with Emirates and will operate from Terminal 3 at Dubai International Airport (DXB) starting from December 10, 2019. Krabi International Airport (KBV) serves as a gateway to Krabi province in southern Thailand and neighbouring regions like Malaysia and Singapore. With the launch of the daily service, which is operated via a stop in Yangon in Myanmar, flydubai becomes the first UAE national carrier to offer flights to Krabi. The new direct flights to Yangon International Airport (RGN) will also give passengers easier access to the largest city and commercial centre of Myanmar. Commenting on the launch of the two new routes, Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer at flydubai said, “Over the past 10 years we have remained committed to opening up underserved markets, enabling millions of passengers to travel with more ease from as far as Helsinki in the west to Krabi in the east via Dubai’s aviation hub.” Sudhir Sreedharan, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations (UAE, GCC, Subcontinent and Africa) at flydubai, said, “The launch of the new routes will further support the trade links between the UAE, Myanmar and Thailand. We are confident that flydubai’s daily flights will be popular for passengers not only travelling from the UAE but also from the GCC and those connecting from Europe and the USA on the Emirates network.”      

As part of the month-long celebrations for flydubai’s 10th anniversary the flydubai team came together on June 18, 2019 at Reel Cinemas in Dubai Mall for a preview of the story of how flydubai changed the way people travel around the region.  At the event, Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer of flydubai, said, “Over the last 10 years, we have carried more than 70 million passengers, introduced new and under-explored destinations and brought people closer to share experiences and opportunities. We remain as determined as we have always been to bridge the distance between people and in doing so enrich their lives.” The airline shared the flydubai Story with its employees first recognising the contribution they have made to the success of the airline. Reflecting on the remarkable journey over the last 10 years, Ghaith, continued, “We began operations as a low-cost carrier to allow more people to travel to more places more often, however our real aim was to improve accessible air travel for over 2.5 billion people within the flydubai network. This has seen the airline evolve, introducing Business Class and refining our product offering without compromising our operational integrity. Today, we offer our customers value beyond the fare, ensuring opportunities are within reach of everyone, everywhere we fly.” Having shared the flydubai Story with colleagues, flydubai is today sharing it with those who have been brought together by choosing to flydubai over the last 10 years. Ghaith, outlining the formula for the airline’s achievements, said, “At flydubai we put our customers at the heart of everything we do. Our commitment remains to open new and underserved destinations to ensure our network complements and enhances Dubai as a hub …

The first flight took off from Dubai to Beirut 10 years ago in 2009, marking a new chapter in aviation in the history of the United Arab Emirates; today 10 years later flydubai celebrates a milestone carrying over 70 million passengers in its short span of operations. Commenting on the 10th year anniversary of the start of flydubai’s operations, His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of flydubai, said, “For many years the Government of Dubai recognised the need for another carrier to serve our country. In 2009, we were able to achieve this thanks to the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. flydubai was launched with a mandate to open new markets and make travel more accessible to more people. I am happy to see flydubai deliver on that commitment which has seen the airline connect 71 previously underserved cities to Dubai allowing a population of 1.5 billion easier access to one of the world’s leading aviation hubs.” HE Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, UAE Minister of Economy, said, “The UAE is leading on the global air transport front and the aviation sector has been a major contributor to the overall national economy. The sector has successfully enabled the creation of an attractive environment for trade, investment and tourism to flourish.” Reflecting on the last 10 years and looking to the years ahead, Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer of flydubai, said, “flydubai’s commitment to making travel more convenient and more affordable has only grown stronger over the past 10 years. We are pleased to see that more than 70 million passengers …

Dubai-based flydubai announced the start of flights to Sochi, Russia. Flights between Dubai and Sochi will operate twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays, starting from  June 7, 2019. flydubai will be the first carrier to offer direct flights on this route from the UAE and the GCC. Commenting on the occasion, Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer of flydubai, said, “Russia is an important market for flydubai and we are pleased to announce the new direct flights to Sochi which will support the growing flow of travel, trade and tourism between the two countries.” flydubai has been operating in the Russian market since 2010 and offers passengers from the UAE and the combined flydubai and Emirates network, easier access to Moscow and other major Russian cities like Yekaterinburg. Jeyhun Efendi, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations and E-commerce at flydubai, added, “We are confident that our high quality and reliable service and the convenience of these direct flights, together with the recent changes in visa requirements for Russians and UAE nationals visiting both countries, will make this resort city located on Russia’s Black Sea Coast a popular choice for passengers.” Sochi is one of the major touristic hubs in Russia located on the Black Sea, popular for its beaches, forests and Caucasus Mountains, as well as for hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics and being home to some of the best facilities for winter sports. Asiet Zhukova, Vice President of Tour Operator Group WOWSOCHI, said, “The new flydubai service offers travellers from the UAE and around the world a more convenient option to reach Sochi and get a chance to explore this year long popular destination in Russia.” flydubai will operate …