LESS than eight years after its first flight, Air Arabia welcomed onboard its 20 millionth passenger, demonstrating the enormous appeal of budget travel in the Mena region. Air Arabia was launched with a service from Sharjah, UAE, to Manama, Bahrain, on October 28, 2003 – marking the introduction of the low-cost carrier concept to the Middle East. At the time, the airline served five regional airports. By the end of its first 12 months of operations, Air Arabia had carried 500,000 passengers to 16 different destinations. Twenty million travellers later, the company has expanded its reach to serve 66 destinations from three hubs in the UAE, Morocco and Egypt, winning countless accolades along the way. The airline served nearly 4.5 million passengers from Sharjah last year alone and currently operates a global fleet of 27 new Airbus A320 aircraft. The carrier recently announced its financial results for the three months ending June 30, demonstrating steady growth in profit, revenue and passenger traffic. Net profit for the three months rose to Dh51 million ($13.6 million), an increase of two per cent on the same period last year exceeding analyst expectations and showing the strength of the airline’s core business amidst tumultuous market conditions. Turnover in the second quarter was 22 per cent up on 2010 at Dh592 million ($161 million). The airline served 1,161,944 passengers over the three months, an increase of five per cent compared to 1,108,310 in the same period last year, and average seat load factor stood at 82.5 per cent. 'Air Arabia has consistently shown its resilience to dynamic market conditions,' said chairman Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammad Al Thani. 'The second quarter of this year saw fuel prices averaging a 46-per-cent increase. The political turmoil in the region has continued with further escalation in several countries. Despite the challenging market conditions, Air Arabia has achieved steady growth and solid profits for the second quarter, thanks to our focused business model and appealing product. 'We remain confident about the outlook of low cost travel in the region amidst market ambiguity, continuous challenging conditions and the rising trend in fuel costs.'