FlyDubai to launch flights from Lithuania
One more new air carrier is set to enter the Lithuanian market – FlyDubai, a subsidiary of the UAE’s Emirates Airlines, Lithuanian Transport and Communications Minister Marius Skuodis told at a press conference at Vilnius Airport on Thursday.
“I can say officially that what we have been working on for years, the United Arab Emirates’ FlyDubai is entering the Lithuanian market with three weekly flights,” Skuodis said.
FlyDubai is the third new airline set to launch operations in Lithuania this year.
Icelandic low-cost airline Play will launch regular flights between Vilnius and Reykjavik from May, and Greece’s Aegean Airlines will fly between Vilnius and Athens from April.
FlyDubai flies from Dubai to some 300 destinations, including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Ghana, India, Australia, Egypt, Jordan, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, and European countries.
From Vilnius, FlyDubai will operate three weekly flights to Dubai on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from October 12.
According to the Lithuanian Airports (LTOU), flights on modern Boeing 737 MAXs between Vilnius and Dubai will take around six hours.
Alternative to Turkish Airlines
LTOU head Simonas Bartkus says he expects FlyDubai to fly more than 40,000 passengers from Vilnius in its first year of operation.
“I believe that FlyDubai will fly more than 40,000 passengers from Vilnius in the first year of its operation,” Bartkus said in his blog, adding that FlyDubai will not only fly to Dubai three times a week throughout the year, but will also offer connections to more than 200 destinations within its joint network with Emirates.
“FlyDubai should be a good alternative to Turkish Airlines in the competition for passengers flying to the Middle East, Africa, and South East Asia. After all, it will be possible to even fly to Australia or New Zealand with one stop with Emirates from Vilnius, and now it will be possible to do it all year round,” Bartkus said.
“FlyDubai is a good airline for everyone as it is a low-cost carrier but at the same time its business class offers a folding bed and it is the first airline with this service in the Baltics [...]. You can fly to Vilnius from New Zealand with one-stop, comfortably lying on a bed,” Bartkus said in a separate Facebook post.