Flydubai confirmed in an announcement Thursday that they have wet leased four Boeing 737NGs from Smartwings for the period between December 14, 2019 and January 25, 2020.
Amid the continued Boeing 737 MAX grounding, flydubai announced Thursday that they have secured four Boeing 737NG aircraft to minimize schedule disruptions during the busy seasonal travel period. The 737NGs will be provided by a wet lease with an Aircraft, Crew Maintenance and Insurance (ACMI) agreement with Czech Republic-based Smartwings. Flydubai currently operates 40 next generation Boeing 737-800s in its fleet, while their 14 737 MAX-8s have been grounded since last March. In Thursday’s announcement, flydubai’s Chief Executive Officer, Ghaith Al Ghaith said,
“We are pleased to have concluded our first wet lease agreement with Smartwings, an IOSA (IATA Operational Safety Audit) company with a track record of successful ACMI agreements.”
Smartwings’ CEO, Roman Vik added, “Smartwings is delighted by a new business relationship with Flydubai which we value very greatly. This kind of cooperation by Wet Lease Agreement is one way to achieve even higher and more effective use of our aircraft in winter season when there is lower demand for flying in Europe. We believe this agreement will intensify the cooperation between both carriers also in the future.”
The leased aircraft are arranged in an all Economy Class configuration and will be deployed on flydubai’s network servicing Bahrain, Colombo, Faisalabad, Karachi, Kuwait, Muscat, Prague and Sialkot. Passengers booked on the Smartwings aircraft will be notified in advance to avoid any confusion.
Founded in June 2009, Flydubai currently serves over 90 destinations in 48 countries with a fleet that will reach 236 aircraft over the next decade. Additionally, the Dubai-based carrier has opened 65 new routes that did not have previous direct air service to Dubai. Flydubai currently operates an all-Boeing fleet of 55 Boeing 737 family aircraft and placed record breaking orders for the region at the 2013 and 2017 Dubai Airshows.
Source: flydubai