The low-cost carriers in the Middle East and Asia face more challenges than their counterparts in Europe and the US due to the cross-border restrictions, a senior official of flydubai said.

"When you compare it to what happens in America and Europe, it's a different proposition. Because in Europe and America, it is one market – the law for airlines is one, and you can fly. You can set up a low-cost carrier anywhere in any of these countries, and you can fly. It is an open market. It is one market to operate in. Here (in the Middle East and Asia), we have borders and we have restrictions on flying. You cannot fly anywhere,"Ghaith Al Ghaith, CEO of flydubai, said during a recent media briefing.

Citing an example, he pointed out that Indians have the largest population mix in the UAE, but flydubai has only 1.5 per cent of its capacity to India because of restrictions by New Delhi in increasing the number of seats for the UAE carriers.

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Al Ghaith elaborated that, unlike Europe and the US, where customers' choices are quite the same,“We have different customers (from different countries), that's why low-cost, in my opinion, here does not work.”

India has not allowed the UAE carriers to increase flight frequency for more than a decade in order to insulate its carriers, despite demands from the Indian diaspora and the airlines. This will benefit not only the Indian travellers, but also Indian carriers and create more jobs opportunities for Indian nationals in the aviation sector.

Launched as a budget carrier in 2009, flydubai has transitioned into a full-fledged airline, adding Business Class in 2023. It plans to roll out Premium Economy Class in Boeing's wide-body aircraft, set to be delivered in the coming years.

“We've introduced Business Class and we can see the success that this brings for us.”

Earlier this year, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi announced the suspension of its operations and also exited the joint venture due to the geopolitical situation in the region, regulatory challenges, and stiff competition from other budget airlines.

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