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Air Arabia

Logo: Air Arabia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

Low-cost airline in the United Arab Emirates

Air Arabia (Arabic: العربية للطيران al-ʿArabiyya Lit-Ṭayarāan) is an Emirati low-cost airline based in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The airline operates scheduled services to 200 destinations in the Middle East, North Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, and Europe to 22 countries from Sharjah, 28 destinations in nine countries from Casablanca, Fez, Nador, and Tangier, 11 destinations in eight countries from Ras Al Khaimah, and six destinations in four countries from Alexandria. Air Arabia's main base is Sharjah International Airport.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

Feb 2003Founded1

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Air Arabia Airbus A320-214 KvW
Photo: Konstantin von Wedelstaedt, GFDL 1.2, via Wikimedia Commons5

Air Arabia (Arabic: العربية للطيران al-ʿArabiyya Lit-Ṭayarāan) is an Emirati low-cost airline based in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The airline operates scheduled services to 200 destinations in the Middle East, North Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, and Europe to 22 countries from Sharjah, 28 destinations in nine countries from Casablanca, Fez, Nador, and Tangier, 11 destinations in eight countries from Ras Al Khaimah, and six destinations in four countries from Alexandria. Air Arabia's main base is Sharjah International Airport. There are also operating bases in Ras Al Khaimah and Abu Dhabi as well as in Alexandria and Casablanca.2

Corporate structure

Air Arabia sits at the top of its group. 6 entities, 5 countries on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

Built from subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0); major holders from Schedules 13D and 13G. Each entity in the chart links to its source.

The story

Air Arabia (العربية للطيران) was established on 3 February 2003 by an Amiri decree issued by Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, the ruler of Sharjah and member of the Supreme Council of the United Arab Emirates, becoming the first low-fare airline in the Middle East.

The airline started operations on 28 October 2003. It broke even during its first year in business, and launched an initial public offering for 55% of its stock early in 2007.

In March 2014, Airbus delivered its 6,000th A320 family aircraft to Air Arabia.

From Wikipedia’s article on Air Arabia, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Products and brands

Destinations

As of July 2021, Air Arabia serves up to 120 airports across the Middle East, North Africa, Asia and Europe. On 11 December 2024, Air Arabia announced on its website the resumption of direct flights between Sharjah and Beirut, Lebanon beginning 18 December 2024.

Fleet

As of March 2025, Air Arabia and its co-branded subsidiaries operate an all-Airbus A320 family fleet composed of the following aircraft:

Fleet development

In November 2017, the airline signed a lease agreement for six A321LR. In April 2019, Air Arabia received its first A321LR. In November 2019, during the Dubai Air Show, the airline announced its order of 120 aircraft comprising 73 A320neo, 27 A321neo and 20 A321XLR, with deliveries from 2024.

Livery

Air Arabia has a livery with the aircraft body being painted in three different colors, red, grey, and white. The tail and each aircraft engine bear the company logo of Sharjah in the form of a bird. Celebrating 15 years of service in October 2018, a new livery was introduced and was applied to the whole fleet.

Read the full text

The updated livery features a large red bird logo coming down from tail to rear fuselage with grey accents behind its wings and billboard-style AirArabia title in English on the front of aircraft with small Arabic title placed next to it above the windows. The bird logo also adorns the engines while the title is applied on red winglets.

From Wikipedia’s article on Air Arabia, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Subsidiaries and ownership

Subsidiaries

From Wikidata.1

Timeline

  1. Feb 2003Founded Founded in Sharjah1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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