By: Mahmoud Gamal

Dubai – Mubasher: Air Arabia posted a 30% increase in net profit during 2017 after two successive years of declining, registering AED 630.3 million, its biggest profit in five years, compared to AED 490.4 million a year earlier.

The UAE's only listed airline attributed the growth in its profit to the increase in the profits generated from some investments as well as the decrease in costs, according to a company statement.

"This year the good spots for us would be Morocco, which is going from strength to strength, and we’re putting more capacity on those lines," Air Arabia's CEO Adel Abdullah Ali told Bloomberg TV. 

"Egypt is another one where we’ve grown a 100% year-on-year and we may grow more this year, particularly with tourism getting back to the Red Sea," the top official added. 

The UAE-based carrier’s annual profit reflected the success of its strategy to address the challenges posing a threat to the whole sector, topped by the increase in oil prices, the financial analyst at Mena Corp Issam Kassabieh commented.

Air Arabia was keen on adding new destinations to its flights to meet its customers’ needs, the analyst concluded.

On Monday’s session, the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) listed carrier’s market capitalisation reached AED 6.11 billion, compared to AED 6.06 billion on Sunday.

Translated by: Muhammad Khalid