Bucharest in Romania and Skopje in the Republic of Macedonia have been named as flydubai's latest destinations expanding the innovative low-cost airline's network in Central & Eastern Europe to 15 points across 10 countries.
flydubai’s new services will allow travellers from the UAE to take advantage of low-cost fares to another two emerging destinations in Central & Eastern Europe. The three-times weekly flights to Bucharest will begin on Monday 1 October 2012 with the twice-weekly service to Skopje commencing on Thursday 18 October 2012.
flydubai’s CEO, Ghaith Al Ghaith, said: “Our two latest routes illustrate flydubai’s commitment to expanding connectivity from the Middle East to new destinations that have historically been underserved. This offers more choice to our customers, increasing international travel options and avenues for trade. Furthermore, our base in Dubai provides the sizeable Romanian and Macedonian expatriate populations around the globe with affordable links to their home nations.”
In parallel to flydubai’s expanding presence in Central & Eastern Europe, visitor numbers to Dubai from the region continue to grow. Latest figures from Dubai Airports revealed an increase of more than 35% during the first four months of 2012 in comparison to the same period last year. With trade and investment in the region expected to rise following a number of initiatives by the UAE, including the opening of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s international representative office in Azerbaijan at the end of 2012, flydubai’s growing network will provide the UAE business community with reliable links to explore further commercial opportunities in the region.
“As economies within Central and Eastern Europe gather momentum and destinations gain more prominence, the breadth of flydubai’s reach within the region will be instrumental in promoting trade ties and encouraging travel,” added Al Ghaith.
Analyst Saj Ahmad commented: "Flydubai's foray into Europe starts what is arguably a new phase of their expansion plans that will mean less reliance on the GCC market for traffic. Starting dual routes to. Skopje and Bucharest not only puts flydubai into the EU, it also connects that part of Europe to Dubai and the rest of the Middle East. These are bound to be a lucrative money-spinning pair of routes that will expand as flydubai inducts more 737-800s to its fleet."
