flydubai

As of October 2026 – When people think of Dubai, they usually think of the big Emirates jets. But there is a second airline from the emirate that is at least as interesting for spotters: flydubai. It flies exclusively Boeing 737s, wears a striking orange-and-blue livery and mainly serves small and mid-sized cities that are too small for widebody jets. As of October 2026, it does not land in Germany – which makes catching it on trips all the more appealing. This page shows you codes, fleet, recognition features and the best places nearby.

flydubai at a glance

flydubai – officially Dubai Aviation Corporation – was founded in 2008 by the government of Dubai. The first scheduled flights started on June 1, 2009 to Beirut and Amman. As with Emirates, the owner is ultimately the emirate via the Investment Corporation of Dubai. Even so, flydubai is not part of the Emirates Group but is run as an independent company. Emirates helped with the build-up in the early days, and today the two are linked by a codeshare agreement.

The business model can be compared with that of Ryanair or Wizz Air – but only at first glance. flydubai relies on a single aircraft type and on narrowbody jets, but flies in a classic hub system via Dubai International (DXB) and has offered a business class since 2013. Many passengers change planes in Dubai, often onto Emirates flights. To make that run smoothly, flydubai has flown selected connections from Terminal 3, the home of Emirates, since December 2018. Most of the traffic still runs through Terminal 2.

The network is large: by its own account, flydubai connects Dubai with more than 125 destinations. Typical are cities in the Gulf region, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, the Indian subcontinent and Africa that would simply be too small for an Airbus A380 or a 777.

Codes and callsign

Precisely because two airlines operate from Dubai, it pays to keep the identifiers cleanly apart. What IATA and ICAO codes are in general is explained in the guide to IATA and ICAO codes.

• IATA code FZ: appears in the flight number, so on the ticket, departure board and in schedule apps.
• ICAO code FDB: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on ADS-B trackers.
• Callsign SKYDUBAI: this is how the crew identifies itself on the radio – not “flydubai”.

So on the tracker, you search for FDB plus the flight number. How to read live data properly and why callsign and flight number are not always identical is covered in the guide to flight tracking with ADS-B and in the article on the difference between callsign and flight number.

The fleet: all Boeing 737

flydubai is one of the most consistent single-type airlines in the world. According to the official company figures from autumn 2026, the fleet comprises 98 Boeing 737s. For you as a spotter, that means flydubai is not about the type itself but about the variants within the family.

Type	Role at flydubai	How to recognize it	Number (autumn 2026)
Boeing 737-800	older generation	CFM56 engines with a flattened lower cowling, no serrated trailing edge	25
Boeing 737 MAX 8	backbone of the fleet	serrated trailing edges on the nacelles, split-tip winglets	69
Boeing 737 MAX 9	longer variant, small sub-fleet	like the MAX 8, but visibly longer fuselage	4
Boeing 787-9	on order, first widebody type	swept wings, serrated engines	30 on order
Airbus A321neo	provisionally ordered	large Airbus narrowbody	150 provisionally ordered

737-800 versus 737 MAX

The most important distinction in everyday flydubai spotting is between the older 737-800 and the 737 MAX. The most reliable way to recognize the MAX is by the engines: the nacelles have a serrated trailing edge, and the engines look larger and rounder. Then there are the distinctive winglets pointing up and down. The 737-800, by contrast, has CFM56 engines under the wings with a slightly flattened lower cowling and a smooth trailing edge. You can find more basics in the guide Identifying aircraft types.

The 737 MAX 9 is the rarity at flydubai. From the outside it looks like a stretched MAX 8 – which is hard to judge on single photos. Here the registration helps, which you can check against a fleet list. According to the airline, eleven more 737 MAXs are scheduled for delivery by the end of 2026, including seven MAX 9s; so the sub-fleet is growing.

Orders: 787 and A321neo

At the Dubai Airshow in November 2023, flydubai ordered 30 Boeing 787-9s – the first widebody aircraft in the airline’s history. They don’t yet appear in the official fleet figure from autumn 2026. Once they fly, collectors get a whole new category: the Dreamliner in flydubai colors.

A surprise followed in November 2025: with a provisional order for 150 Airbus A321neos, flydubai opened up to Airbus for the first time. According to reports, deliveries do not begin until the 2030s. Until then, flydubai remains an all-Boeing airline.

Cabin and retrofit

For spotters, the cabin usually plays a minor role, but not for understanding the airline. flydubai flies with a two-class cabin: a small business class at the front, economy behind. From September 2026, the airline is retrofitting 21 Boeing 737 MAXs over about twelve months. The existing business seats make way for full lie-flat seats, and larger overhead bins of the Boeing Space Bins type are added.

You won’t see any of this from the outside. But if you fly on board or keep your logbook precisely, a note on the cabin version can be useful later.

Recognizing the livery

The flydubai livery relies on the house colors orange and blue and stands out clearly from the more restrained designs of many Gulf airlines. The “flydubai” titles are in lowercase on the fuselage.

For every sighting, note details such as winglets and engines in addition to registration and type. That turns a single-type fleet into a surprisingly varied collection. How to read registrations in general is explained in the article on aircraft registrations; the guide to country codes places the A6- prefix.

flydubai in German-speaking Europe and Central Europe

Here comes the catch for spotters from Germany: as of October 2026, flydubai does not fly to any German airport. At your home airports such as Frankfurt or Munich, you normally won’t see the airline. But there are a handful of destinations within reach that combine well with a spotting weekend.

• Salzburg: flydubai has flown to Salzburg since July 15, 2021, most recently several times a week according to the airline. From the observation deck at Salzburg Airport, you get the 737 against an Alpine backdrop – a shot that exists in this form only here.
• Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg: EuroAirport lies on French territory but also serves the Freiburg area. According to current destination lists, Basel is in the flydubai network. For spotters from Baden-Württemberg, this is the shortest route to a flydubai sighting.
• Prague: at Prague Airport, flydubai is a regular sight and can be combined with Smartwings, which also flies 737s.
• Budapest: at Budapest Airport, the Aeropark gives you a spot with a museum character right at the airport.
• Poland: Warsaw, Krakow and Poznan are in the network. At Warsaw Chopin Airport, you see flydubai alongside LOT.

Other European destinations include Ljubljana, Bucharest, Sofia, Riga and Vilnius, with seasonal Mediterranean destinations added in summer. Networks and frequencies change regularly – always check the current schedule before a trip. A selection of worthwhile spots in Europe is in the overview Best spotting spots in Europe.

Spotting tips

flydubai is a rewarding subject: bold colors, a well-known aircraft type and mostly fixed days of the week in the schedule. But because the airline often shows up at your destination airports only a few times a week, planning matters.

Important especially when traveling: find out beforehand which rules apply at foreign airports, and stay in publicly accessible areas. The article Is plane spotting allowed? gives a good overview. For equipment, the plane spotting checklist helps – a 737 needs far less focal length than an A380, but at some spots the distance to the runway is large.

Common mix-ups

• Equating flydubai and Emirates: both come from Dubai but are separate airlines with their own codes. Emirates flies widebody jets, flydubai flies 737s.
• A6- means flydubai: the prefix applies to all aircraft from the United Arab Emirates, including Emirates and Etihad Airways. Only livery and registration together give certainty.
• Confusing 737 MAX 8 and MAX 9: the length difference is only noticeable in a comparison or with a fleet list.
• Treating the codeshare number as the operator: if an EK number is on the board, a flydubai 737 can still be at the gate.
• Misassigning the callsign: on the radio it is “SKYDUBAI”, not “flydubai”. How to listen to air traffic radio legally is explained in the article on the legal situation for ATC radio.

Conclusion

flydubai is the small, colorful sister of the big Dubai airline – independent, consistently focused on the Boeing 737 and, with orders for the 787-9 and A321neo, on its way to a broader fleet. For German spotters, it is an airline you have to work for: Salzburg, Basel, Prague or Budapest are the nearest chances. If you keep FZ and FDB apart, note the A6- registration and know the flight days, you’ll quickly get your first orange-and-blue 737.