Air Arabia Eyes Sharjah - Mangalore Route, Special Fares to Bangalore
PTI
Bangalore, Jan 30: Air Arabia, the largest low-cost carrier in the Middle East and North Africa, on Thursday announced special fare for its Bangalore-Sharjah route starting from Rs 1340, exclusive of taxes.
Bangalore-Sharjah route is the second route in the country that the airline has announced the special fare offer apart from Hyderabad-Sharjah route. The airlines operates 95 flights a week from 12 destinations in India.
Air Arabia,which launched its services in October 2007 in Bangalore, has been "well received by passengers from Bangalore and adjoining regions and the airline enjoys an average seat factor of 82 per cent on its Bangalore-Sharjah route", said A.K.Nizar, Head of Commercial Department, Air Arabia.
The booking for the special fare would be open till January 31 for a travel period till March 31.The special fares would be open for a "considerable number of seats" and the price would rise once these seats are booked.The return fare from Sharjah to Bangalore would work out to Rs 3000 plus taxes while the Bangalore-Sharjah route fare, inclusive of taxes, worked out to around Rs 5000, he said.
"India continued to be a key element of our business plans", he said adding the airlines had witnessed steady growth since its launch in the country.
The airlines plans to expand to Goa by March end and add around two more destinations in a year's time."We are also keen in operating in Mangalore and are waiting for approvals from the Karnataka government", he said.
To question on the airlines expansion plans in the wake of recession, Nizar said "we see a lot of opportunity for low cost airlines during these difficult times." With corporates and individual businessmen looking at keeping cost down, low cost airlines could provide a solution when compared to the option of a legacy carrier, he said.
Air Arabia was also planning to tie ups with hotels to offer special packages to make travel attractive, Nizar said. Despite the recession, Nizar said the company had not seen much decline in the passenger traffic with average load factor in January being around 82 per cent.
The airline today has a fleet of 16, leased and owned, Airbus A320 aircraft and operates regular flights to 44 detinations.
The airliness also announced the appointment of R. Bharathan as Regional Manager for the Indian sub-continent.