New airline first flight to Dubai delayed until Thursday

The launch of a new national carrier for Djibouti which is backed by a UAE businessman is believed to have been delayed until March 3

The new airline Djibouti Air was due to make its first flight last week with a Boeing 737-200 linking the Horn of Africa with Dubai and a second aircraft to join the fledgling fleet by today.

The UAE's civil aviation authority, the GCAA, earlier in the month signed an "open sky" air services memorandum of understanding with the Civil Aviation Authority and Meteorology of Djibouti.

"The two sides agreed that any number of designated airlines of both parties will have the right to perform scheduled air services," according to a Feb. 10 statement on the U.A.E. state news agency's website, WAM.

The agreement covered Emirates, Etihad and RAK Airways, Air Arabia and flydubai from the UAE and Daallo airlines and Djibouti Air from the Djibouti side.

The new airline is believed to be owned by the Djibouti government and the UAE's Lootah Group with Ebrahim Saeed Lootah, chairman of the real estate and construction group as a board member and majority shareholder in the airline.

According to the airline chief executive Shabab Attarzadeh. initial service to Dubai will see six-weekly flights as the airline builds its network. Within the first six months, the carrier also plans to launch flights to Ethiopia, Somalia, Yemen and Kenya. Subsequently, it plans to expand into Europe and East Asia, while increasing frequencies to Middle Eastern countries.

The airline will operate the elderly 737s in a two-class configuration and will be competing the route on cost. Currently the route is served by Ethopian with a stop in Addis Adaba

Djibouti has a large French presence and the Djibouti Ambouli International Airport which is also the military base for French and US forces is already owned by the Dubai World group and analysts believe there are opportunities for the airline to succeed.

There is no information as to why the launch has been delayed.