Air Arabia

Business and history

As of: 2025-12-31

Air Arabia PJSC is the Sharjah-based listed company behind a low-cost aviation group. Its business combines passenger transport with travel distribution, aviation services, aircraft leasing and hospitality. The airline operation began in 2003; the public joint-stock company was incorporated on 19 June 2007 and its ordinary shares are listed on the Dubai Financial Market. The listed parent should not be confused with every airline using the Air Arabia brand.

The commercial proposition is affordable travel supported by separately sold services and a network of operating bases. Tickets form the core product, while travel agencies, holiday products, cargo and aviation support extend the group's participation in a journey. This is an airline-led business, rather than a diversified industrial holding company: aircraft availability, traffic demand and operating costs remain central to performance.

Group structure and accounting boundaries

As of: 2025-12-31

At 31 December 2025, wholly owned businesses included Air Arabia Holidays, Cozmo Travel, Impact Aviation Services in Ireland, Action Hospitality, Centro Sharjah Hotel and the Radisson Blu hotel-apartment business in Dubai Marina. Air Arabia Academy and Olgana Real Estate sit beneath International Business Company (FZE). Information System Associates supplies aviation IT; Nexasoft Innovations and Coreops Services in India became operational during 2025.

The principal airline interests classified as joint ventures were Air Arabia Abu Dhabi (49%), Air Arabia Egypt (49%), Fly Jinnah in Pakistan (45%) and Air Arabia DMM in Saudi Arabia (49%). Air Arabia Maroc was an associate with a 44.13% interest. Other joint ventures included Alpha Flight Services (51%), Sharjah Aviation Services (50%) and Tune Protection Commercial Brokerage (51%). A majority percentage alone therefore does not establish consolidation.

The annual report records liquidation processes for Fly Arna and Air Arabia Jordan and suspended operations at Cozmo Armenia. These should not be presented as active expansion bases. Consolidated revenue does not include the entire revenue of equity-accounted airlines; network-wide passenger totals have a different perimeter.

Fleet, bases and operating indicators

As of: 2026-06-30

At the end of H1 2026, the network fleet comprised 96 Airbus A320-family aircraft. Allocation was Sharjah 60, Ras Al Khaimah 2, Abu Dhabi 12, Morocco 10, Egypt 4 and Pakistan 8. These are operational allocations across the network, not a count of aircraft owned outright by the listed parent. The existing Airbus order covers 120 A320-family aircraft, with deliveries joining the fleet gradually.

All-hub passenger traffic was 8.7 million in H1 2026 versus 10.1 million in H1 2025; average all-hub seat load factor was 83.2% versus 84.4%. The presentation separately reports 4.63 million passengers in its main performance table. The two measures must not be substituted for one another. Load factor indicates occupied seats; it does not measure ticket yield or profitability. Dividing consolidated revenue by all-hub passengers would not produce a comparable airline yield.

Shareholders and governance

As of: 2025-12-31

The 2025 governance report lists four holders above the disclosure threshold: Sharjah Asset Management LLC 18.55%, East and West International Group 12.12%, Al Maha Holding Company (FZE) 9.21% and Bond Investments LLC 7.91%. These are dated holdings from the annual report, not a real-time shareholder register. The remainder should not automatically be described as freely tradable stock.

The report identifies Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Al Thani as chairman and Adel Abdullah Ali as chief executive and executive board member. Their long involvement explains management continuity; it does not replace scrutiny of related-party transactions and the different interests of group companies.

Annual and interim financial performance

As of: 2025-12-31 / 2026-06-30 / 2026-08-30

The latest periods available on the official IR index checked on 30 August 2026 are FY2025 and H1 2026. The table uses consolidated statutory statements; AED million, rounded to one decimal. Profit attributable to owners is after tax. The FY2024 comparison is restated. Annual and half-year amounts are different durations and must not be compared as consecutive equal periods.

Revenue expanded in FY2025, but the first half of 2026 illustrates operating leverage in reverse: revenue changed only modestly while direct costs increased. Direct costs reached AED 3,046.0 million versus AED 2,779.7 million in H1 2025. Management attributes pressure to regional conflict, airspace closures, reduced capacity, high fuel costs and inflation. The presentation's AED 374.4 million headline corresponds to profit before tax in the statutory statement; owners' after-tax profit was AED 336.0 million. This profile keeps those definitions separate.

*FY2024 restated.

Liquidity, debt and aircraft investment

As of: 2026-06-30

At 30 June 2026, cash and cash equivalents were AED 1,289.2 million and fixed deposits AED 3,095.9 million. They are separate balance-sheet lines. Bank borrowings were AED 2,320.6 million, including AED 600.7 million classified as current; lease liabilities were AED 1,500.3 million, including AED 254.2 million current. Current classification identifies near-term obligations, not a complete maturity schedule.

H1 operating cash flow was AED 896.7 million, while property-and-equipment purchases absorbed AED 1,096.1 million and net aircraft advance payments AED 47.7 million. Dividends paid were AED 1,400.0 million. Deposits were released and net bank borrowing increased during the period. Consequently, the increase in cash alone does not mean that financing capacity improved. Aircraft purchases, leases and advance payments must be assessed together; this profile does not infer covenant headroom or unrestricted liquidity from headline balances.

Corporate changes and growth strategy

As of: 2025-12-31 / 2026-06-30 / 2026-08-27

The 2025 group table shows Air Arabia Egypt rising from 40% to 49%, and the establishment of the Saudi joint venture with a 49% interest. In its H1 presentation, management expected the Dammam operation to begin in Q3 2026. That expectation is not evidence that commercial operations have already started.

A subsequent official announcement dated 27 August 2026 scheduled daily Sharjah–Düsseldorf flights from 16 December 2026 using the A320neo. At this profile's date, this was an announced future route, not an operating service. It illustrates the planned European expansion without treating every advertised destination as already flown.

Management's stated approach is continued multi-base expansion, fleet deliveries and cost discipline. Editorial interpretation: expansion can broaden the customer base and deploy newer aircraft, but its success depends on delivery timing, traffic rights, demand and a stable operating environment. Additional seats do not automatically translate into additional profit.

Risks and what to monitor

As of: 2026-06-30 / 2025-12-31

Regional airspace disruption can reduce capacity even when aircraft are available. Fuel volatility, inflation and supply-chain constraints can raise costs faster than fares. A growing fleet also requires financing, crews and maintenance capacity. The H1 result shows why occupancy alone is insufficient to assess resilience.

The multi-company structure adds an accounting risk for readers: hub passenger statistics and parent-company financials describe different scopes. Joint-venture earnings and distributions also need to be distinguished from consolidated sales and operating cash flow. Future updates should track statutory after-tax earnings, aircraft investment, borrowing and lease obligations, delivery progress and the actual start of announced bases and routes. These are business monitoring criteria, not a forecast or a recommendation to buy or sell shares.

Official contacts and updating

As of: 2026-06-30 / 2025-12-31 / 2026-08-30

Website: https://www.airarabia.com. Investor relations: https://www.airarabia.com/en/about-us/investor-relations. The H1 2026 investor presentation publishes +971 6 5088939 and investorrelations@airarabia.com. Registered postal address: P.O. Box 132, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. These are public business contacts, not private staff details.

Editorial date: 30 August 2026. Financial and operating sections are dated to their stated reporting periods; the shareholder snapshot is from the 2025 annual report. New results should update the financial section, while ownership changes and actual launches should update their respective sections. This is an original business profile, not an audit of the underlying documents.

Sources

1. A · Source A · 2025-12-31
2. H · Source H · 2026-06-30
3. P · Source P · 2026-06-30
4. N · Source N · 2026-08-27
5. IR · Source IR · 2026-08-30