Air Arabia announced plans on July 16, 2025, to expand its operational capacity at Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International Airport (AUH) by 40%. The low-cost carrier is adding two Airbus A320 aircraft to its Abu Dhabi base and two more are expected to join before the end of 2025. This would bring the airline’s Abu Dhabi-based fleet to 14 aircraft.
In an official statement, Air Arabia’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Adel Al Ali emphasized that the move is part of a long-planned strategy. However, the timing of the announcement, which comes barely two days after Wizz Air announced its withdrawal from the Abu Dhabi market, will not have gone unnoticed by industry observers.
Air Arabia Abu Dhabi is one of several airlines operating under the joint Air Arabia brand. While the head office is in Sharjah (SHJ), also in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as of July 2025, the group also has subsidiaries in Morocco and Egypt, as well as being an investor in Pakistani low-cost carrier Fly Jinnah.
In the last couple of months Air Arabia Abu Dhabi has also expanded its network to new destinations such as Yerevan (EVN), Armenia, Almaty (ALA), Kazakhstan and Sialkot (SKT), Pakistan, reaching the 30-destination mark.