flydubai

flydubai is the trading name of Dubai Aviation Corporation, an airline owned by the Government of Dubai. It was set up in 2008 and, although it is not part of the Emirates Group, Emirates supported it during its launch phase. Its chief executive is Ghaith Al Ghaith, who previously spent more than two decades at Emirates. The airline's headquarters are at Dubai International Airport, where most of its flights use Terminal 2 and some use Terminal 3.

Its first aircraft order, for 50 Boeing 737-800s, was signed at the Farnborough Airshow in July 2008. The first of those aircraft arrived on 17 May 2009, and scheduled flights began on 1 June 2009 with services to Beirut and Amman. Since then the airline says it has carried more than 137 million passengers.

flydubai started out as a low-cost carrier, but it no longer fits that label neatly. In 2013 it added a business class cabin, which now offers either lie-flat or reclining seats depending on the aircraft, along with lounge access at Dubai. In economy, every fare includes a meal, and the three fare types, Lite, Value and Flex, differ in, among other things, checked baggage allowance. In July 2017 flydubai and Emirates announced a partnership going beyond a codeshare, so that passengers can connect between the two airlines in Dubai with baggage checked through to their final destination. Taken together, it is closer to a hybrid airline than to a no-frills one.

The network is built around a single hub. flydubai says it serves more than 125 destinations in 56 countries across Africa, Central Asia, the Caucasus, Europe, the Gulf, the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia, and that more than 100 of its routes had no direct air link to Dubai, or no UAE carrier from Dubai, before it started them. The airline employs more than 6,000 people from 144 countries.

The fleet has always been a single type. flydubai's own figures give 98 Boeing 737s: 25 737-800s, 69 737 MAX 8s and four 737 MAX 9s. The company said in October 2026 that it expected to take 11 more 737s during 2026, bringing the fleet to 100. Its order book reflects a series of large commitments made at the Dubai Airshow: 75 737 MAX and 11 737-800s in 2013, 225 737 MAX in 2017, 30 Boeing 787 Dreamliners in 2023 (its first widebody order), and in November 2025 both 75 more 737 MAX, with options on 75, and 150 Airbus A321neos for delivery from 2031, with options on 100. In its October 2026 release the airline gave more than 300 aircraft on order and said the 787s are due from early 2028. The worldwide grounding of the 737 MAX in March 2019 hit its growth plans, as it was then flying 11 of the type with more than 220 on order.

In October 2026 the company reported that its new aircraft maintenance centre in Dubai South, next to Al Maktoum International Airport, was close to construction completion and is due to become operational in the first quarter of 2027, bringing heavy maintenance in-house.