flydubai has inaugurated three Saudi routes, bringing to 16 its destinations in the Kingdom. On March 16th, it started Dubai to Neom, followed two days later by Najran. On March 21st, the day of writing, it began Dubai to Al Qaisumah/Hafr al Batin (hereafter just Al Qaisumah). They came shortly after the start of Milan Bergamo and the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

The three routes

Details of the three routes are summarized in the table below. Dubai has never had non-stop flights to Al Qaisumah, located close to the borders of Kuwait and Iraq. Indeed, the airport has never had international scheduled service before. That changed on March 21st, when flydubai FZ837 arrived at 12:37 following a 1h 49m flight from the UAE (see the map).

flydubai to Al Qaisumah

Booking data shows fewer than 3,000 people flew between Al Qaisumah and Dubai in 2022 (obviously, all transited). flydubai's non-stops will grow this while crucially also targeting the much higher number of passengers (workers) to/from Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, among other countries.

Dubai to...

flydubai flights

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Neom

Twice-weekly

Saudia

Launched by Saudia in August 2021. Operates until the end of March 2023, then returns in November

Click here for Dubai-Neom flights

Najran

Three weekly

No

flydubai served it in 2015 (see below)

Click here for Dubai-Najran flights

Al Qaisumah

Twice-weekly

No

Airport as never had international flights before

Click here for Dubai-Al Qaisumah flights

What about Najran?

Some 879 miles (1,414 km) from Dubai, Najran is very near the Yemen border. OAG data shows that flydubai launched the route in January 2015, only to end in May of that year due to the war. The airport closed for four years and reopened in May 2019.

flydubai is Najran's only international operator, although it has previously had service by Air Arabia from Sharjah and Nesma and Nile Air from Cairo. Booking data indicates that Cairo was by far Najran's most popular international market last year, followed by Dhaka, Dubai (~8,000), Khartoum, and Kuwait. None had non-stops, and only Dubai does now.

Click here for Najran-Dhaka flights.

flydubai's Saudi network in summer 2023
Image: GCMap.

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flydubai's top 10 countries

According to the latest OAG data, flydubai will serve 51 countries this summer, of which the top 10 – by seats for sale – are shown below. Saudi Arabia is so significant that about one in seven flydubai seats are to that nation.

Dubai to...

flydubai's one-way seats this summer

% of the airline's capacity

Destinations served by flydubai

Saudi Arabia

809,000

14.7%

16

Russia

467,000

8.5%

9

Pakistan

403,000

7.3%

5

Iran

240,000

4.4%

6

Oman

237,000

4.3%

2

Kuwait

236,000

4.3%

1

Bahrain

185,000

3.4%

1

Iraq

177,000

3.2%

5

Turkey

165,000

3.0%

6

India

164,000

3.0%

9

Where would you like flydubai to serve in the future? Let us know in the comments.