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Air Arabia Already Adept at Aeronautics

OK, upon further review, we were a little slow on the whole Air Arabia is using South Park characters thing. According to a recent overview of the company in the New York Times, they've been featured in ads for the Middle-Eastern budget airline since 2003, which practically predates the internet. Dishdasha Kyle or not, the airline has made a serious inroads throughout the region.

Despite a fleet on six planes, the low-cost Sharjah-based airline--it's the next Emirate over from Dubai--has ably facilitated return visits home for many of the area's foreign workers. Hence Air Arabia's flights to places like Kabul, Khartoum, and Almaty.

The airline is also doing solid business taking middle class travelers to local vacation spots, (like Lebanon and Syria) as travel in the West has gotten uncomfortable for many of them of late. Perhaps this can serve as a wake-up call for the U.S.; the country tends to act quickest when revenue for big business is at stake, and with consistently slumping domestic airlines and hotels, the lost tourist dollars are definitely hurting them.

In the meantime, can Air Arabia put Cartman in a Fez? We'd like to see that.  

Related Stories:
·   Passion for Travel in the Persian Gulf [NYT]
·   South Park Goes to the Middle-East [Jaunted]