Air Arabia to launch Moroccan hub.

Sharjah-based low cost carrier Air Arabia’s launch of a hub in Morocco with a dedicated fleet of A320s is “very imminent”, according to the airline’s chief executive officer.
“We don’t have a firm date yet, but it is likely to be at the end of this year or early 2009,” Adel Ali said on Sunday.

Air Arabia announced, at the end of last year, that it would establish a hub in Morocco’s capital Rabat, providing a platform to reach Europe, Africa and those parts of the Middle East beyond it’s reach in Sharjah. Air Arabia operates 15 Airbus A320 with 49 on order.

Ali said four were being delivered per year but it was likely to place an order for more A320s for the Morocco hub, which will require it’s own fleet and aircraft.

He said Air Arabia would also look at leasing planes to fill any gap or delays of delivery.“We’ll need more aircraft for Morocco and we’ll stick with the A320s as we’re happy with them.” “It’s always a good option to have a mix of leasing or purchasing.”

The airline has already signed a management agreement of Morocco’s leading private carrier Regional Air Lines, as part of its hub plans. While Ali recognised that high oil prices had put pressure on airlines worldwide, he said Middle East airlines had benefited from the economic boom that came with high oil prices.

Despite a “challenging year” for the airline with fuel prices and the economic downturn, Ali said the carrier expected “reasonably good profits” and it’s expansion plans and aircraft orders were on track.

“While oil does put pressure on us, Air Arabia has a strong balance sheet,” Ali said.“Middle Eastern economies are good and people are still traveling in this region.”He denied concern regarding the competition posed by low cost carrier FlyDubai.

“One more airline will bring more business. There are already ten – they’ll be eleven. They have to work hard as well.” Air Arabia established Nepal as its second hub in January with majority-owned Nepalese unit FlyYeti.com.

However, services ceased due to a change of government and there is no date set for the services to resume.

“The challenge was a change of administration. We weren’t sure of the new policies. We just want to make sure it’s all addressed before we go back in there,” added Ali.

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