Air Arabia's order for 44 Airbus aircraft may not be sufficient for the expanding LCC

Air Arabia Maroc COO, Rohit Ramachandran, stated AirArabia Group's order for 44 Airbus aircraft, scheduled for delivery over the next five years, may not be sufficient for the expanding LCC (Reuters, 16-Jan-2010). Air Arabia Maroc alone plans to add two aircraft to its Casablanca fleet in 2010, and, if market conditions permit, would add three aircraft p/a until its reaches 17-20 aircraft. Mr Ramachandran added that Air Arabia is happy with its recent performance, with load factors regularly exceeding 80%.

AirArabia: "At our parent company in Sharjah, we regularly exceed 82 to 83 percent seat factor even in a difficult year like 2009. I think it was in the early 80s [for the full year] but the final figure will be released later…"If anything [the Airbus deliveries] won't be able to keep up with our requirements for the three hubs. At least in the next couple of years we see our demand for airplanes outstripping the schedule. We might even have to go outside. But we are in a good position right now because good airplanes are available cheap," Rohit Ramachandran, COO for Morocco. Source: Reuters, 16-Jan-2010.