Flydubai carried over 100,000 fans on shuttle flights since Nov 21

Dubai-based flydubai has enabled more than 100,000 football fans to take part in the football tournament hosted in Qatar.

The carrier operated 900 flights between Dubai World Central (DWC) and Doha International Airport (DIA) between November 21 and December 7, 2022, the majority of which flew at near full capacity at peak travel periods of the day.

Read: FIFA World Cup: Dubai’s DWC to operate up to 120 shuttle flights between Nov 20 and Dec 19

Flydubai has been operating up to 30 daily match day shuttle flights as part of its partnership with Qatar Airways to support the influx of football enthusiasts from the region to Doha during the World Cup. The shuttle flights will operate until December 19.

Seven of flydubai’s Boeing 737 aircraft are positioned at DWC to operate the match day shuttle schedule. An aircraft departs every 30 minutes at peak travel periods during the day, and takes off on average every 50 minutes throughout the rest of the day.

Two of flydubai’s aircraft operating out of DWC feature a football-themed livery as part of its regional partnership with the Argentine Football Association (AFA). Members of the Argentine national football team including Angel Di Maria, Julian Alvarez, Lautaro Martinez, Leandro Paredes, Lionel Messi and Rodrigo De Paul, appear as part of the new design.

“It has been a very exciting couple of weeks for everyone involved in delivering the Match Day Shuttle flights, whether they are football fans or not. The celebratory atmosphere at DWC, the joy of the fans and the ease of how their journey from Dubai to Doha commences is proof of how well everyone has come together to make this a reality,” said Ghaith Al Ghaith, chief executive officer at flydubai.

“Having automated many of the processes required for travel, including Hayya card approvals, meant that passengers who have completed their travel requirements and online check-in could pass through the terminal in 10 to 12 minutes. ​ This includes the journey from the car park to the boarding gates, which is truly remarkable.”

More than 70 per cent of passengers travelling on the match day shuttle flights had completed online check-in and received their online boarding passes prior to arrival at DWC, enabling them to proceed to immigration quickly  to start their journeys.

flydubai gears up to another busy travel period where more than 25,000 football fans are expected to travel to watch the final matches in Doha. The airline will also add capacity to cater to the demand for travel for the quarter-finals, semi-finals, third place play off and the final match of the tournament. The last Match Day Shuttle service flight FZ 5274 is scheduled to depart from DIA to DWC on 12:40 on 19 December.

flydubai to grow its network to 115 destinations globally with the addition of 7 new destinations by the first half of 2023. pic.twitter.com/jxWLiAvEch

— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) December 18, 2022