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DUBAI: UAE carrier flydubai swung to a loss of 712.6 million dirhams ($194m) last year, hit by a plunge in passenger traffic as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, it said yesterday.
The loss compared with a 198.2m dirham profit in 2019, when the airline reached a compensation deal with Boeing. Revenue contracted 53.7 per cent to 2.8 billion dirhams.
Flydubai said the pandemic had impacted the airline more than any other crisis, with passenger traffic falling 67pc to 3.2m in 2020 while the number of flights it operated fell 63pc to 27,450.
Flydubai, which lacks a domestic market to cushion against international closures imposed because of the pandemic, said 1,092 employees had taken unpaid leave or were on voluntary leave – about 29pc of its current workforce of 3,796 staff.
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