March 29- The seat capacity of low-cost Middle Eastern carriers have increased to 8.3 per cent in 2009 from 7.4 per cent in 2008, said the latest report released by Centre of Asia-Pacific Aviation and OAG. According to the report, Middle Eastern budget carriers’ international capacity rose to six per cent from 4.8 per cent in 2008. Furthermore, an increase is expected this year as well as last year’s financial crunch have made passengers more price-conscious. New budget carriers are expected to benefit from this, said the report.
The regional low-cost carrier segment is relatively a young one, compared to Europe and the United States. In 2003, the Sharjah-based Air Arabia was the first to take off in this market, followed by Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways, FlyDubai, the Saudi-based NasAir and Sama and Bahrain Air. Between them, these low- cost carriers operate 66 aircraft, with a further 150 on order, of which 31 are scheduled for delivery over the next two years. Servicing 92 destinations, their route map takes them to 37 places in the Middle East, along with Europe, Africa and India.
