By IANS
Bangalore : Air Arabia, the international low-cost carrier of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), would operate daily flights between Bangalore and Sharjah from Oct 28, a top company official said here Thursday.
“We are prompted to commence daily flights between India’s IT hub and Sharjah from Oct 28 following the instant response to our new service, which began early this week (Monday) between the two prominent cities,” Air Arabia CEO Adel Ali told IANS here.
Though Bangalore is the ninth destination in the subcontinent for which the airline secured rights to operate four flights a week from Sharjah initially, Ali is confident of achieving 80-85 percent plane load factor (PLF) in the coming months with a daily service.
“As the fastest growing city in South Asia, Bangalore is an important destination for us to connect with the UAE and beyond. Being the first international low-cost airline operating in India, we see a huge potential to fly hundreds of business and leisure travellers between the two regions,” Ali asserted.
With a return fare as low as Rs.10,000 on the Bangalore-Sharjah-Bangalore route, the airline is targeting the large contingent of expats and their relatives across the state frequenting between the two countries round the year.
A daily service on the Bangalore-Sharjah route will take the total number of flights operated by the airline between India and the UAE to 58 from 51 per week.
The airline also connects Ahmedabad, Chennai, Coimbatore, Jaipur, Kochi, Mumbai, Nagpur and Thiruvanathapuram to the Gulf by daily flights.
The carrier provides connectivity to other cities in the Gulf region and West Asia such as Abu Dhabi, Al Fujayrah, Amman, Aqaba (Jordan), Beirut, Cairo, Doha, Dubai, Kuwait, Manama (Bahrain), Muscat and Ra’s al Khaymah. It also operates regular and direct flights to North Africa and central Asia.
“The profile of our passengers is a mix of business, leisure, expats and pilgrims (hajis). During the haj season, the PLF goes up to 90-95 percent. We have also seen a growing number of holidaymakers and Arabs flying into India during festivals and monsoon/spring seasons. Many Gulf people come to India for medical treatment,” Ali pointed out.
The airline has applied for rights to operate flights from Hyderabad as the 10th Indian destination. It expects to launch the service from April after the new international airport is functional.
To meet the growing demand for its services, the airline is in talks with Airbus and Boeing to acquire about 30-35 new aircraft over the next five-seven years and augment its current Airbus fleet of 10 A320s.
“We have raised about $1 billion recently by going public and listing our shares on the Dubai stock exchange. We plan to go for outright purchase of the aircraft and phase out our present fleet of leased aircraft,” Ali said.