UAE – Mubasher: The profits of flydubai reached AED 198.2 million ($53.9 million) in 2019, versus losses of AED 159.8 million in 2018.

The Dubai-based low-cost carrier's annual revenues declined by 2.6% to AED 6 billion ($1.6 billion) last year from AED 6.2 billion ($1.7 billion) in 2018, according to the company’s annual financial results for last year.

Meanwhile, flydubai represented 10.9% of traffic at Dubai Airports in 2019, compared to 12.2% in the prior year.

The company's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, and rent (EBITDAR) were reported at 29.5% of annual revenue, against 21.1% in 2018.

The number of passengers totalled 9.6 million in 2019, down from 11 million in the earlier year.

Commenting on the company’s performance in 2019, the CEO of flydubai, Ghaith Al Ghaith, said: “Our results demonstrate that we have capitalised on the strong fundamentals in our business, but it is regrettable that our growth strategy has been significantly impacted by the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX.”

Al Ghaith added: “We have concluded an interim settlement agreement with Boeing for certain compensation due to flydubai in relation to the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX.  The details of the interim settlement agreement remain confidential.”