Air Arabia purchases 49 percent stake in Petra Airlines

Analyst Saj Ahmad commented: “Air Arabia's first major foray into buying an airline stake raises interesting questions about its future strategy. Having been pushed into second place behind flydubai on routes out of the UAE, Air Arabia seems to be dipping its toes into new markets where low cost travel hasn't thrived or is still in its infancy.

“Royal Jordanian Airlines is in the midst of a revamp itself so this new partnership between Air Arabia and Petra Airlines raises the competitive stakes but provides customers with welcome fare reductions as a result.”

Ahmad added: “Air Arabia has never made such a big acquisition and it seems likely that this won't be a one off transaction either if it aims to continue its expansion plans beyond Sharjah. It will be equally interesting to see what, if any moves that Royal Jordanian makes to counter this pairing because if successful, Amman could become another bastion of low-cost activity which could side-line the higher yielding fares that Royal Jordanian relies heavily upon.”