UAE: Air Arabia Adds Third New Route In 2017, Sharjah To Hargeisa Somaliland

Sharjah-headquartered Air Arabia, the largest low-cost carrier operator in the Middle East and North Africa, has added its third permanent new international route from Sharjah this year with the addition of direct flights to Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland.

The airline now operates flights to over 130 destinations across the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Asia, and Europe from its five international hubs.

Starting 4 July 2017, Hargeisa will be the tenth African destination served from its main hub at Sharjah International Airport (SHJ). The airline currently flys from Sharjah to Alexandria (HBE), Assiut (ATZ), Cairo (CAI), Sohag (HMB) and Sharm El Sheikh (SSH) in Egypt, Nairobi (NBO) in Kenya, Casablanca (CMN) and Tangier (TNG) in Morocco, and Khartoum (KRT) in Sudan.

The new flights to Hargeisa Egal International Airport (HGA), will operate on Tuesdays and Fridays, departing Sharjah International Airport at 03:45 hours, and arriving at Hargeisa at 06:15 hours local time. The return flight will depart Hargeisa at 06:55 hours, landing in Sharjah at 11:25 hours local time.

This month, Air Arabia began operating twice weekly flights from Sharjah to Batumi, the second largest city of Georgia on the Black Sea. The airline launched four weekly flights from Sharjah to the Azarbajiani capital of Baku in March 2017.

The airline also launched a number of seasonal flights this year. In March and April Air Arabia launched a seasonal route between Iran’s Kermanshah airport and Sharjah on the occasion of ‘Nowruz’, the new Iranian year. Air Arabia is also operating a summer-season non-stop service to the historic Turkish port city of Trabzon beginning this month.

Air Arabia began operations in October 2003 from its main hub at Sharjah International Airport in the UAE and now has additional international hubs at Amman’s Queen Alia International Airport in Jordan, Casablanca’s Mohammed V International Airport in Morocco, Alexandria’s Borg Al Arab International Airport in Egypt and Ras Al Khaimah International Airport in the UAE.

More than 8.4 million passengers flew with Air Arabia in 2016, a 12 percent increase on the previous year, while more than 2.1 million passengers flew with the carrier between January and March 2017.


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UAE: Air Arabia Launches More Routes This Year

Sharjah-headquartered Air Arabia PJSC , the largest low-cost carrier operator in the Middle East and North Africa, has added five new international routes since the beginning of 2016. The airline now operates flights to over 120 destinations in 33 countries across the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Asia, and Europe from its five international hubs.

This month, Air Arabia began operating twice weekly flights from Sharjah to Batumi, the second largest city of Georgia on the Black Sea. The carrier launched a new route from Fez (Morocco) to Toulouse (France) during February 2016, followed by the opening of new routes from Sharjah to Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) in March, plus new routes from Marrakesh (Morocco) to Pau (France) and from Amman (Jordan) to Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) in April.

Air Arabia began operations in October 2003 from its main hub at Sharjah International Airport in the UAE and now has additional international hubs at Amman’s Queen Alia International Airport in Jordan, Casablanca’s Mohammed V International Airport in Morocco, Alexandria’s Borg Al Arab International Airport in Egypt and Ras Al Khaimah International Airport in the UAE.

More than 7.6 million passengers flew with Air Arabia in 2015, a 12 percent increase on the previous year. The airline also had a strong start to 2016, carrying more than 2.1 million passengers between January and March 2016, up 17 percent on the same period last year.

The budget carrier’s home base, Sharjah International Airport, registered a 12 percent increase in overall passenger traffic during the first three months of 2016, with a record 2.7 million passengers being handled by the airport, compared with 2.4 million during the first quarter of 2015. Total passenger numbers passing through Sharjah airport topped 10 million for the first time during 2015.

UAE: Air Arabia Evaluating Indian Airline Acquisition

Sharjah-headquartered Air Arabia, the largest low-cost carrier operator in the Middle East and North Africa, has confirmed that it is considering an investment in FlyEasy, a new Indian budget airline that has yet to launch. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), India’s domestic airline business is currently the fastest growing in the world, showing a ​13.2 percent growth in revenue passenger kilometers (RPF) in September 2015 (compared with September 2014).

FlyEasy, which is based in Bengaluru (Bangalore) in the state of Karnataka, is waiting for an air operating permit (AOP) from India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation. The new operator has leased two Embraer E-190 jets for its launch. Sixteen Indian groups (including FlyEasy) have received no-objection certificates from India’s ministry of civil aviation to launch new airlines since 2011, but only four have so far received AOPs.

Air Arabia has been pursuing an aggressive expansion strategy and has added 21 new routes to its network in the first nine months of 2015, increasing the total number of destinations to 115 routes. New routes include Urumqi, the first China route for a low-cost airline from the Middle East and Africa. The company also started a loyalty programme this year.

In 2014, Air Arabia opened its second UAE hub at Ras Al Khaimah International Airport and reportedly requested permission to open additional routes to India via the new hub, but was turned down by Indian aviation authorities. Analysts speculate that an investment in an Indian-based carrier might pave the way for a sixth Air Arabia hub and more international flight connections with India in the future.