Air Arabia to open operational hub in India

Dubai, May 3 (UNI) The Sharjah-based budget carrier Air Arabia has announced plans to open an operational hub in India as part of its expansion programme of route network.

''We feel very confident going forward into 2007, and we are looking at other opportunities to set up hubs in the Middle East and India, and we are working on those things,'' airline chief Adel Ali said during a press conference at the Arabian Travel Market yesterday.

Disclosing preliminary planning to open a second base of operations, after recording a 33 per cent increase in net profit in the first quarter of 2007 to 43.4 million dinars, compared with the previous quarter, Mr Ali mulled strengthening presence in India.

However, he noted that many plans had not yet reached the discussions stage with relevant authorities because some countries only recently relaxed restrictions on foreign investment in the aviation sector, Gulf News reported.

Air Arabia, which went for initial public offerings in March, raised 2.56 billion dinars to finance its fleet expansion of up to 34 new planes by 2015, and part of the resources, would be used to develop a second hub.

UNI