Air Arabia criticises Middle East governments for supporting their national carriers

Air Arabia CEO, Adel Ali, criticised the governments of Middle East nations for supporting their national carriers (Arabian Business, 23-Mar-2010). Mr Ali added that increased competition between Middle East LCCs and their increasing capacity will see some unsustainable operations shut-down.

Air Arabia: "Obviously the legacy carriers will not close down because they are owned by governments. So probably instead of building hospitals and schools, they will buy more aeroplanes, in this part of the world. They are all busy, but not all of them are successful. They're all carrying people, and some are doing it for good reasons - to improve business, for example - but some are doing it simply because they love to have another airline. I hope that people look at this business not just as a marathon race to see who will have the biggest and most planes. At the moment, it seems like a race to fight for statistics rather than taking care of the bottom line," Adel Ali, CEO. Source: Arabian Business, 23-Mar-2010.