UAE's Air Arabia orders 34 Airbus A320s, options on 15 more 11.12.07, 7:44 AM ET
DUBAI Thomson Financial - The UAE-based budget airline Air Arabia has ordered
34 Airbus A320 planes and agreed to option 15 more, the two companies said.
The total value of the deal is worth around 3.5 bln usd, company executives said at a news conference during the Dubai air show.
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Air Arabia chooses Airbus for $3.5b order
By Ivan Gale, Staff Reporter
Published: November 12, 2007, 17:26
Dubai: Budget airline Air Arabia put an end to months of speculation and selected Airbus the $3.5 billion winner of its fleet order.
The Sharjah carrier placed a firm order for 34 A320s with an option for 15 more. By choosing Airbus, Air Arabia opted to stay with the A320 family which currently makes up its fleet of 11 leased aircraft.
The deal will more than triple the size of Air Arabia’s fleet and drive it closer to achieving a goal of
flying 50 aircraft by 2015.
The order did not specify which engine would be used.
Shaikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Al Thani, Air Arabia chairman, said the purchase would also help the airline become ‘one of the world’s leading low-cost carriers in terms of profit margins, innovation, reputation and operational excellence’
Air Arabia will
take delivery of the aircraft starting in 2012, meaning it will have to
lease an average of four additional aircraft 
until it receives the new planes. Under its business plan, CEO Adel Ali said the airline plans to fly to
80 destinations by 2015 - more than double its current network of 37 routes.
[Yea, with 43 going to India
]
Going forward Ali said new routes would be focused in Central Asia, further into the Middle East and
India 
and Africa, which remains a largely untapped market for the airline.
Recently the carrier announced the purchase of a stake in a Moroccan budget airline and the installation of Air Arabia’s second hub in Rabat. At yesterday’s press announcement Ali told reporters the 49-aircraft order was made to
sustain the growth out of its Sharjah hub and not to build a fleet for other hubs. 
Ali said details have not yet been finalized on how much of a stake Air Arabia will ultimately take in the Moroccan carrier, and whether the airline will fly with the Air Arabia livery. But he said it would cater primarily to its domestic Moroccan market, with some routes to Africa and
Europe 
and a select few to the Middle East.