Dubai’s budget carrier FlyDubai reports a record-breaking $572m profit in 2023

The Dubai-based budget carrier FlyDubai saw record profits of $572m in 2023, boosted by carrying the most passengers ever across its network, the company announced Thursday. The state-owned carrier, based in the business and tourism hub of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, reported revenue of $3b, compared to $2.5b the year before. It also carried 13.8m passengers, beating its prior pre-pandemic record of 11m in a year. It saw a profit of $327m in profit in 2022. “Building on the momentum from our previous strong performance, we continued to grow surpassing all pre-pandemic levels to achieve the most profitable year in the history of the airline,” Ghaith al-Ghaith, FlyDubai’s CEO, said in a statement. FlyDubai is the sister airline to long-haul carrier Emirates, both based out of Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel. The airport just announced that it beat its own pre-pandemic figures for 2023, though it remains just shy of its all-time-highest figures of 89.1m passengers in 2018. FlyDubai had been one of the biggest customers of the 737 Max. The Boeing 737 is a workhorse for the airline, which along with long-haul carrier Emirates is owned by the government’s Investment Corporation of Dubai. The two carriers also operate code-share flights, increasing traffic on FlyDubai routes.<br/>