Dubai budget carrier flydubai chalked up a loss of $43.5 million in 2018, it said Wednesday, as airlines across the Gulf struggle with mounting costs and political tensions. The government-owned carrier, a sister of aviation giant Emirates, said total revenue for the year was up just over 12 percent to $1.7 billion.

But this was not enough to offset its losses. The loss, a dramatic shift from a $10 million profit in 2017, was "largely due to increasing fuel costs, rising interest rates and unfavourable currency exchange movements", flydubai's Chief Financial Officer Francois Oberholzer said in a statement.

The announcement comes as airlines in the UAE - whose Dubai International Airport is the busiest in the world for international traffic - have faced a double hit from regional political tensions and oil price hikes. In June 2017, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and their allies cut all ties with Qatar, accusing it of cosying up to rival Iran and supporting Islamist groups.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019