30-Apr-2010 3:35 PM

Air Arabia reports rise in traffic on Sharjah-Beirut service; Comair to launch rights offer

Air Arabia (+2.0%) was the only Middle Eastern carrier to experience a rise in its share price on Thursday (29-Apr-2010) after the carrier stated it served more than 28,050 passengers on the Sharjah-Beirut sector, an increase of 7.2% year-on-year in 1Q2010. In 2009, more than 115,675 passengers were transported on the route, while the LCC reported 88% on-time-performance on the service. The carrier operates on the route ten times weekly.

Air Arabia operates to 60 destinations from its two hubs in Sharjah, UAE and Casablanca, Morocco. The carrier served 4.1 million passengers last year, an increase of 14.2 per cent compared with 3.6 million passengers in 2008.

Also in the Middle East, Kuwait National Airways was flat, as the Kuwait Stock Exchange gained only 0.2% for the day. Royal Jordanian Airlines (-3.5%) and Jazeera Airways (-1.8%) were down.

In Africa, Comair (+1.9%) shares continued to rise, ahead of the launch of its renounceable rights offer on 30-Apr-2010. The carrier plans to raise ZAR124.5 million by offering 69.2 million new ordinary shares. The rights offer shares will be offered at a share price of ZAR 180 cents per rights offer share in the ratio of 14 rights for every 100 Comair ordinary shares or Comair 'A' ordinary shares held.

Lonrho and Kenya Airways were flat, despite the Kenyan All Share Index (+0.2%) rising marginally.

1time Holdings (-3.5%) was the only carrier to end in negative territory, despite a 0.7% rise in the South African JSE, which followed the US Dow Jones index higher.

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Selected African and Middle Eastern airlines share price movements (% change): 29-Apr-2010