Air Arabia reports 26.6 percent profit increase

Air Arabia, the United Arab Emirates' only publicly-listed airline, reported a 26.6 percent increase in third quarter profit on Sunday. The low cost airline said in an emailed statement it made a net profit of 376 million dirham ($102.4 million) in the three months to Sept. 30, compared with 297 million dirham in the same year-ago period.
EFG Hermes and SICO Bahrain had forecast the airline, based in Sharjah, one of the emirates, would post a profit of 202.3 million dirhams and 285.5 million dirhams, respectively. Revenue for the period increased 3.6 percent to 1.16 billion, and the number of passengers the airline carried increased 3 percent to 2.33 million.