UAE: Abraaj Founder Arif Naqvi Faces Lawsuit By Air Arabia

Air Arabia PJSC has filed a lawsuit against Abraaj founder Arif Naqvi, becoming the first publicly traded company to initiate legal proceedings against the Pakistani entrepreneur.

The low-cost carrier said it began legal proceedings through the filing of a misdemeanor case in a court in Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates.

Air Arabia Group has investments outstanding with private equity firm Abraaj, it said in a statement.

The Dubai listed airline, which has a market value of about $1.3 billion, said in June that it had an exposure of $336 million to funds managed by Abraaj Group, adding that it won’t have a significant impact on daily operations or its liquidity status.

Abraaj was one of the most high profile private equity companies in the Middle East until its dramatic collapse last year.

The firm owes banks more than $1 billion and is being restructured after it was found to have borrowed money from some of its own funds to meet operating expenses without investors’ consent, people with knowledge of the matter have said.

Air Arabia is an Emirati low-cost airline with its head office in the A1 Building Sharjah Freight Center, Sharjah International Airport, in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

The airline operates scheduled services to 151 destinations in the Middle East, North Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia and Europe to 22 countries from Sharjah, 28 destinations in 9 countries from Casablanca, Fez, Nador and Tangier, 11 destinations in 8 countries from Ras Al Khaimah, and 6 destinations in 4 countries from Alexandria.

Air Arabia's main base is Sharjah International Airport. There is also a hub in Ras Al Khaimah and focus cities in Alexandria and Casablanca. Air Arabia is a member of the Arab Air Carriers Organization.


Tourism Observer

Air Arabia Launches Fifth Route This Year

Sharjah-headquartered Air Arabia PJSC (AIRARABI:DFM), the largest low-cost carrier operator in the Middle East and North Africa, has added five new international routes since the beginning of 2016. The airline now operates flights to over 120 destinations in 33 countries across the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Asia, and Europe from its five international hubs.

This month, Air Arabia began operating twice weekly flights from Sharjah to Batumi, the second largest city of Georgia on the Black Sea. The carrier launched a new route from Fez (Morocco) to Toulouse (France) during February 2016, followed by the opening of new routes from Sharjah to Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) in March, plus new routes from Marrakesh (Morocco) to Pau (France) and from Amman (Jordan) to Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) in April.

Air Arabia began operations in October 2003 from its main hub at Sharjah International Airport in the UAE and now has additional international hubs at Amman’s Queen Alia International Airport in Jordan, Casablanca’s Mohammed V International Airport in Morocco, Alexandria’s Borg Al Arab International Airport in Egypt and Ras Al Khaimah International Airport in the UAE.

More than 7.6 million passengers flew with Air Arabia in 2015, a 12 percent increase on the previous year. The airline also had a strong start to 2016, carrying more than 2.1 million passengers between January and March 2016, up 17 percent on the same period last year.

The budget carrier’s home base, Sharjah International Airport, registered a 12 percent increase in overall passenger traffic during the first three months of 2016, with a record 2.7 million passengers being handled by the airport, compared with 2.4 million during the first quarter of 2015. Total passenger numbers passing through Sharjah airport topped 10 million for the first time during 2015.