flydubai is busy re-establishing its network in a post-COVID recovery phase, with the city of Taif in Saudi Arabia featuring on its list again. The service is set to resume in a few days and will bring the number of destinations served by flydubai in Saudi Arabia to seven.

Back in Taif

flydubai is expanding its summer offering by adding another popular tourist destination to its network map. The Dubai-based budget carrier will resume services to Taif, Saudi Arabia, from April 15th. Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer at flydubai, commented,

“We are pleased to see our network grow to offer more than 95 unique destinations. The network expansion has been supported by our growing fleet as we continue to take delivery of more aircraft over the next few months. We look forward to welcoming passengers back on our flights to Taif and thank the authorities for their continuous support.”

Situated less than 100 km east of Mecca in a valley on the eastern side of the Hejaz mountains, Taif is a popular summer destination known for its pleasant weather and picturesque rose farms. With an uptick in leisure travel, flydubai will be hoping for decent passenger volume on this sector this summer season.

Flight details

Starting from April 15th, the low-cost airline will fly between Dubai and Taif with a daily service, connecting Terminal 2 at Dubai International (DXB) to Taif International Airport (TIF). According to flydubai’s website, the schedule for the first few days will vary slightly, but by the end of this month, it will be fixed to the following time:

Dubai (DXB) to Taif (TIF)

Flight no: FZ-8147

Departure: 10:55

Arrival: 12:50

Taif (TIF) to Dubai (DXB)

Flight no: FZ-8148

Departure: 13:50

Arrival: 17:40

Return business class fares from DXB to TIF start from AED 3,100 (approx. $843), and economy class fares start from AED 1,800 (approx. $490). Return business class fares from TIF to DXB start from SAR 4,200 (approx. $1,120), and economy class fares start from SAR 1,800 (approx. $480).

flydubai’s Taif flights will be in addition to its other flights to Saudi Arabia to cities including AlUla, Dammam, Jeddah, Madinah, Riyadh, and Yanbu. The latest route has upped the carrier’s destination in the country to seven.

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Impressive recovery

flydubai has enjoyed a fairly decent recovery from the COVID pandemic. Its CEO Ghaith al Ghaith told Simple Flying last year that the airline had fully recovered in terms of the number of flights and the number of passengers that it was carrying, adding that they were actually doing better because the yield was higher.

Earlier this month, the airline announced that it will launch thrice-weekly flights to Pisa International Airport (PSA) and Catania International Airport (CTA) on June 24th, increasing its Italian network to three destinations this summer.

The carrier, which posted a profit of $229 million in 2021, has a network spanning more than 95 destinations and a fleet size of 60 Boeing 737 airplanes. Last month at the Aviation Achievement Awards, flydubai was also recognized in two categories: Ghaith Al Ghaith was named CEO of the Year, and the carrier was awarded Low-Cost Airline of the Year.