Air Arabia PJSC, the United Arab Emirates’ biggest low-cost carrier, said earnings dropped less than analysts expected in the third quarter as it flew more passengers and a drop in fuel costs curbed costs.
Net income fell 33 percent to 143.5 million dirhams ($39 million), or 0.03 dirham a share, from 214.4 million dirhams, or 0.05 dirham a year earlier, the Sharjah-based carrier said in a statement on its Website today. That beat the average estimate of 114.4 million dirhams in a Bloomberg survey of five analysts. Profit fell 9 percent excluding a 56.7 million-dirham one-time gain last year.
The Middle East is the only region in the world where air traffic has grown this year, rising 9.4 percent in the first nine months of the year from a year ago, according to data from the International Air Transport Association in Geneva. Air Arabia said third-quarter traffic was curbed by the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, “concerns relating to the H1N1 virus” and the global economic crisis earlier this year.
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