Air Arabia Group has reported a net profit of AED226 million for the three months ending September 30th.

The figure represents an increase of 126 per cent on the same period of last year, reflecting a strong financial position at the airline.

Beating analysts’ forecasts, the carrier’s turnover for the third quarter reached AED836 million, an increase of 19 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammad Al Thani, chairman of Air Arabia, described the financial performance as a result of the airline’s strong business model, excellent cost control margins and its prudent growth strategy.

He said: “The sustained profitability and solid growth margins signal that Air Arabia is on a steady growth trajectory.

“The extremely positive financials further validates our concerted efforts to unlock opportunities for the low-cost model, which is pioneered by Air Arabia in the wider Arab region, while continuously making air travel accessible to millions of customers every year.”

The low-cost pioneer enjoyed increasing demand for services, registering a 14 per cent increase in passenger traffic to 1,368,728 million in the third quarter of this year.