The Middle East’s first low-cost airline Air Arabia has seen its year-end profits rise by more than 50 per cent compared with 2011 figures.

At the end of 2012, Air Arabia reported a net profit of AED425m ($116m), an increase on the AED274m reported the previous year.

Turnover stood at AED2.9bn, an increase of just over 20 per cent compared with the AED2.4bn reported in 2011.

The positive results follow similar hikes in profit announced by other low-cost regional airlines, including Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways and FlyDubai.

In line with profit increases, passenger numbers rose last year. A total of 5.3 million passengers travelled on Air Arabia, a 13 per cent increase compared to the 4.7 million recorded in 2011.

The airline’s load factor, which reflects the number of passengers carried as a percentage of available seats, stood at 82 per cent at the end of last year.

According to Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammad al-Thani, chairman of Air Arabia, the results demonstrate that the low-cost airline model can be successfully applied to the Middle East. “The airline is fully confident in its ability to unlock opportunities for the low-cost model,” he said in an official statement.