flydubai (yes, all one word and no caps) does not fly to North America. We will never photograph these airplanes at Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ). However, the low cost airline is unofficially connected to Emirates, an airline that does visit Toronto several times per week.
So, this is an airline to take a close look at if you’re blowing bank for a flight on an Emirates Airbus A380-800 to Dubai and want to do a bit more travelling with the small amount of money left in your wallet.
Get a closer look at what they have to offer at their site: flydubai official website.
About flydubai
This airline was founded on March 19, 2008. On June 1, 2009, flydubai officially commenced operations with their first flight between Dubai and Beirut, Lebanon.
flydubai is owned by the Government of Dubai. Emirates is also under the same ownership but the two airlines are officially not affiliated. However, Emirates did play a part in the early days of flydubai and they have a codeshare with each other.
The airline’s main hub is Dubai International Airport and their headquarters are also located there. flydubai has codeshare with Air Moldova, Emirates and Regent Airways.
Currently, they operate about 184 flights per day with 63 aircraft. 500 pilots are on staff to fly these aircraft to 94 destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe.
flydubai Fleet
flydubai is definitely an airline caught up in the Boeing 737 MAX debacle. Of their 63 airliners, eleven are Boeing 737 MAX 8 and two are Boeing 737 MAX 9. The other 50 are Boeing 737-800 models.
The airline has invested their future in MAX. There are currently 119 Boeing 737 MAX 8, 68 MAX 9 and 50 MAX 10 on order. However, just recently, flydubai has publicly considered switching that business to Airbus. This article states that the airline is weighing the option of going with Airbus A320neo instead.
The Boeing 737-800 comes in two configurations. Some have the sardine can single class set-up for a maximum of 189 passengers. Some have 12 seats in business class and 162 economy class seats for a total of 174.
Interestingly, the MAX 8 have seating for just 166, eight less than the B738. There are ten seats in business class and 156 in economy. The MAX 9 also has 156 economy class seats but 16 in business. The airline added business class to their aircraft in 2012.
Incidents Involving flydubai Airplanes
On January 26, 2015, a flydubai Boeing 737-800 was flying from Dubai to Baghdad, Iraq. On approach to Baghdad International Airport, the airplane was hit by small arms fire. The B738 landed safely and no one on board was hit by the gunfire.
On March 19, 2016, things got much more serious. Flight 981 was taking vacationers from Dubai to Rostov-On-Don, Russia. The weather was bad when the Boeing 737-800 (A6-FDN) was on approach to the Russian location. Things went terribly wrong.
After aborting the first attempt at a landing, the aircraft entered a holding pattern for the next two hours. After the second attempt was also aborted, the airliner climbed sharply before crashing onto the runway at a reported 600 km/h.
All 55 passengers and seven crew members were killed instantly upon impact.