UAE-based budget airline Air Arabia has signed a joint venture agreement with Jordan's Tantash Group to launch a new low-cost carrier based in Amman, it said on Monday.

Arabia Jordan will be Jordan's first low-cost carrier and, based in the country's capital, will be the airline's fourth regional hub, it said in a statement.

The airline will begin operations in its third hub in Egypt in the first half of 2010, it said in February. -Reuters