Air Arabia Abu Dhabi

As of October 2026 – In Abu Dhabi most spotters think first of Etihad’s widebody jets. Since July 2020, though, a second home airline has also been rolling across the apron at Zayed International Airport: Air Arabia Abu Dhabi. It is the capital’s low-cost airline, came about as a joint venture of Air Arabia and Etihad and flies only Airbus A320s. On this page you will find codes, fleet, network, recognition features and tips on how to document it reliably on your travels.

Air Arabia Abu Dhabi at a glance

In October 2019 Etihad Airways and Air Arabia of Sharjah announced that they would jointly found an independent low-cost airline based in Abu Dhabi. The roles are clearly divided. Air Arabia contributes the brand, the product and many years of low-cost experience, and Etihad the location and the roots in the capital. According to widely reported figures, Etihad holds 51 percent of the shares and Air Arabia 49 percent.

The timing was about as unfortunate as it gets. The operating license came in April 2020, in the middle of the pandemic. The launch had to wait until travel was possible again. On July 14, 2020, the first scheduled flight then took off for Alexandria in Egypt, followed a day later by Sohag.

Since then the airline has grown step by step. In summer 2025 the Air Arabia group spoke of more than 30 nonstop destinations from Abu Dhabi in the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, on the Indian subcontinent and in Eastern Europe. With Wizz Air Abu Dhabi’s withdrawal on September 1, 2025, Air Arabia Abu Dhabi is the only low-cost airline based in the capital.

Codes and callsign

Because there are two Air Arabia operations in the Emirates, a close look at the identifiers is worthwhile. The basics of the codes are explained in the guide IATA and ICAO codes.

• IATA code 3L: appears in the flight number, so on the ticket, display board and in schedule apps.
• ICAO code ADY: appears in the flight plan filed with air traffic control and on ADS-B trackers.
• For comparison, Air Arabia (Sharjah): IATA G9, ICAO ABY.

So on the tracker you search for ADY. Tracker databases list “NAWRAS” as the callsign; we have not found any official statement from the airline on this. Why callsign and flight number often do not match is covered in the article on the difference between callsign and flight number. How to read live data correctly is explained in the guide to flight tracking with ADS-B.

The fleet: only the Airbus A320

Air Arabia Abu Dhabi relies consistently on a single aircraft type. That fits the group’s business model: one type means one pilot training program, one spare parts inventory and simple planning. More on how low-cost carriers keep their costs down is explained in the article How low-cost carriers work.

Type	Role	How to recognize it	Status
Airbus A320-200	only type, whole network	Narrowbody, two engines, ceo generation	twelve aircraft in summer 2025, two more announced for the end of 2025

At the 2020 launch the fleet was still small. In July 2025 the group reported taking delivery of two more aircraft, bringing it to twelve A320s. Two additional aircraft were planned by the end of 2025, tied to the goal of increasing capacity by around 40 percent in 2025. Whether the fleet has grown further since, you should check against a current fleet list before a trip.

A320ceo, not neo

The Abu Dhabi fleet consists of the classic A320 version, known in the trade as ceo (current engine option). Air Arabia of Sharjah, by contrast, already operates A320neos and A321neos. If you see an Air Arabia jet with the large, round neo engines in Abu Dhabi, it is therefore worth a second look at the registration. How to tell the two generations apart with confidence is explained in the guide A320neo or ceo?.

Telling the family members apart is also easy at this airline: there are no A319s and no A321s. If you still want to practice, the article How to tell the A318, A319, A320 and A321 apart has the key features.

Product and business model

By its own account, Air Arabia Abu Dhabi offers the same low-priced product as Air Arabia in Sharjah. Typical of the model is a low base fare to which you add extras depending on the fare. The cabin has uniform economy seating.

The setup is interesting. In many countries large network airlines found their low-cost subsidiaries themselves. In Abu Dhabi, Etihad instead sought out an experienced partner and adopted Air Arabia’s low-cost brand. The advantage for Etihad is that routes with many price-conscious travelers are served without diluting its own premium product. How the big Gulf airlines are set up overall, you can read in the article Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad. A similar principle of several brands under one roof is described in the guide to multi-brand strategies.

Air Arabia itself has used the model for longer. Besides Sharjah there are offshoots and stakes in several countries, for example Air Arabia Maroc. Abu Dhabi is the second base within the Emirates.

Network: Middle East, India, Central Asia

The route network follows the travel flows that shape Abu Dhabi: labor migration, family visits and vacations. A large part of the routes lead to neighboring Arab countries, to Egypt, to the Indian subcontinent and to Central Asia. For widebody jets many of these destinations would be too small.

• Egypt: The focus from the start. After Alexandria and Sohag, further cities were added, including Sphinx Airport near Cairo since February 2026.
• Levant: Damascus is in the schedule, and according to the announcement Aleppo has been too since July 2026. Further destinations in the neighboring countries are added.
• India and South Asia: Several cities in India and Pakistan that are important for labor migrants and family visits.
• Central Asia and the Caucasus: Yerevan and Tbilisi joined the network as early as July 2021, with further destinations in Central Asia following later.
• Eastern Europe: Individual destinations whose offering has changed several times in recent years.

Network and frequencies change constantly, especially at a young airline. Check the current schedule before every trip. How summer and winter schedules shift the offering is explained in the article on the IATA summer and winter schedule.

Recognizing the livery

Air Arabia Abu Dhabi operates under the Air Arabia brand. The aircraft wear the group’s well-known design: a mostly white fuselage with red accents, the large Air Arabia titles and the stylized bird logo on the tail. You will look in vain for Etihad colors.

For spotters that is exactly the challenge. An Air Arabia A320 from Sharjah and one from Abu Dhabi look confusingly alike. The assignment only becomes certain with these details:

1. Registration – match it against a current fleet list. How registrations are built is explained in the article on aircraft registrations, and the guide to country codes places the prefix A6-.
2. Flight number – 3L or G9 on the display board, or ADY or ABY on the tracker.
3. Airport – departure or arrival in Abu Dhabi (AUH) points to Air Arabia Abu Dhabi, Sharjah (SHJ) to the parent brand.
4. Version – an A320neo or A321 points to the Sharjah fleet.

Spotting in Abu Dhabi

The natural place for a sighting is the hub itself: Abu Dhabi Zayed International Airport. Here the A320s of Air Arabia Abu Dhabi stand next to Etihad’s Boeing 787s, A350s and A321s, with guests from Asia, Africa and Europe on top. If you are linking several airports in the region, the guide Plane spotting in Dubai has tips for Dubai Airport, where you can also catch flydubai and Emirates.

Important in the Emirates: photographing at airports can be handled much more strictly there than in Central Europe. Find out about the local rules beforehand, stay on publicly accessible areas and ask if in doubt. The article Spotting abroad provides background. Then there is the climate: in summer, heat and heat haze are a real issue, more on that in the guide Avoiding heat haze.

If you see the airline on your travels at one of its destination airports, the same principle applies: record the registration and flight number. The guide How rare is my sighting? helps you judge how rare such a sighting is for your collection.

Common mix-ups

• Treating Air Arabia Abu Dhabi and Air Arabia as the same: Same brand, but two airlines with their own codes and their own base.
• Expecting an Etihad subsidiary in Etihad colors: Etihad is a co-owner, but the aircraft wear the Air Arabia design.
• Wizz Air Abu Dhabi: Was an offshoot of Wizz Air with its own livery and ceased operations in September 2025. It has nothing to do with Air Arabia Abu Dhabi.
• A6- equals Air Arabia: All aircraft from the Emirates carry the prefix, so also Etihad, Emirates or flydubai.
• Logging a G9 flight in Germany as an Abu Dhabi sighting: The Air Arabia flights to Munich come from Sharjah.

Conclusion

Air Arabia Abu Dhabi is a young, manageable airline with a clear profile: low-cost flights from the capital, a joint project of Air Arabia and Etihad and a fleet consisting only of Airbus A320s. For spotters the appeal is in the detail. Because it flies under the well-known Air Arabia brand, the correct assignment only works with registration, flight number and airport. If you travel to Abu Dhabi, you have good chances of collecting the complete fleet.