flydubai (FZ, Dubai International) has entered into a new wet-lease agreement with Smartwings (Czechia) (QS, Prague Václav Havel) for six B737-800s, it revealed in its 2023 annual results.
The new deal, the third of its type between both carriers, is due to “ongoing challenges with the aircraft manufacturer’s delivery schedule,” which resulted in four fewer jets being delivered in 2023. flydubai has 130 B737-8s on order. It received 13 last year, down from 17 in 2022. So far, it has taken only one of the type in 2024. CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith said the airline hoped to take a further eleven by the end of the year.
The two parties entered into the agreement for four units on October 17, 2023. However, flydubai extended it to wet-lease two additional airframes until April 16, 2024. The ACMI contract “will see six leased aircraft support flydubai’s fleet of 85 Boeing 737s, enabling the airline to add more capacity for its passengers,” the Emirati carrier said in a statement to ch-aviation.
Three Smartwings B737-800s have been flying for flydubai since last year: OK-TVF (msn 29669) arrived in October, OK-TVV (msn 38027) in November, and OK-TVU (msn 38025) in December. The Prague-based carrier is currently wet-leasing eleven of its 33 aircraft to external clients, the ch-aviation fleets module shows, also including one B737-700 flying for AeroItalia, one B737-800 flying for Air Transat, and six B737-800s flying for Sunwing Airlines.
flydubai’s in-house fleet comprises of fifty-three B737-8s, twenty-nine B737-800s, and three B737-9s. Last year, it ordered thirty B787-9s. Al Ghaith revealed that deliveries of the widebodies are due to start in 2026.
