Dubai announced the launch of its first budget airline called flydubai, which the emirate said will be taking to the skies in two months despite the global financial crisis. Flydubai will start with flights to the Lebanese capital Beirut on 1 June and to Jordan’s capital Amman on 2 June using Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

We are committed to bringing a new option to the market and to growing the region’s budget air travel business,” said company chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum. “This will benefit our economy, our people, and tourism business as a whole.”

There are at least four other budget airlines operating in the region. The neighbouring emirate of Sharjah operates Air Arabia, while Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways, operates also from Dubai and Kuwait, Bahrain Air flies from the neighbouring Gulf archipelago, and Nas from oil-rich Saudi Arabia.