Top 100 Arabs 2024

53. Adel Abdulla Ali

Group CEO, Air Arabia

Origin: Bahrain

Residence: UAE

Sector: Aviation

2023 Rank: 54

A veteran of the aviation sector, Ali founded Air Arabia Group as the first low-cost carrier in the MENA region in October 2003. Under his leadership, the group reported a 27 per cent increase in net profit to Dhs1.5bn in 2023 while its passenger traffic surged by 31 per cent to 16.7 million compared to 12.8m a year earlier. Air Arabia added 26 new routes to its global network, and the budget carrier flies its fleet of 73 Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft to more than 190 destinations across the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe. The group launched new joint ventures, Armenia’s Fly Arna and Pakistan’s Fly Jinnah, in 2022. Fly Jinnah also commenced operations in February from Islamabad to Sharjah.

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