Flydubai celebrates a number of route anniversaries in its Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) network this month, reaffirming its commitment to expansion and connectivity while highlighting its growth in the UAE’s aviation market.

Three years since launching operations to Baku, Azerbaijan, on Nov. 22, 2009, Dubai’s innovative airline has established flights to 16 destinations across 11 countries in the CEE and CIS region. It also

has the most comprehensive network of all Middle Eastern carriers to this area and is the only scheduled operator flying direct to Dubai from Belgrade, Skopje, Bishkek, Kharkiv, Donetsk and Tbilisi.

Key to the airline’s growth has been its strategic approach to drive expansion. Through adding new aircraft and destinations each year, flydubai has opened up previously underserved markets, bringing

affordable travel to more people, more often. New figures that highlight its remarkable regional development include witnessing a 45 percent year-on-year growth in the total number of flydubai’s annual flights to the CIS and CEE markets between October 2011 and September 2012; and increasing the number of monthly flights to this market by 109 percent in September 2012 compared to September 2011.

Flydubai’s CEO, Ghaith Al-Ghaith, said: “More than 40 percent of our route development this year has taken place in CEE and the CIS. The geographical prioritization of these markets has been key to

flydubai’s continued growth and highlights our commitment to offering real choice and excellent quality service for passengers while boosting tourism and trade between our regions. Flydubai has also been instrumental in increasing air traffic between the UAE and Russia by 85 percent; and the UAE and Ukraine by 112 percent.”

Flydubai continues to increase its frequency to the region by adding a fourth weekly flight to Yerevan from Nov. 29.