SHARJAH, 14 December 2003 — Air Arabia, which bills itself as the first low-cost airline in the Middle East, unveiled yesterday its starting fares and its fare structure.
The airline said in a statement that a one way ticket from Sharjah, where it is based, start at 99 dirhams ($27) for Muscat, 159 dirhams ($43) to Bahrain, 199 dirhams ($54) to Beirut, 222 dirhams ($61) to Kuwait and 310 dirhams ($84) to Damascus. It said fares to its five destinations exclude airport taxes and that ticket prices go up as more seats are sold on each flight.
A call to the company’s reservations center Sunday yielded a roundtrip fare of 588 dirhams ($160) to Beirut of which 170 dirhams ($46) are Beirut airport taxes. Airport taxes at the airlines’ other destinations vary from 20 to 50 dirhams, according to a reservations agent.
The total starting fares charged by the airline to its five destinations are almost half the going rate charged by other UAE-based airlines. Air Arabia was launched in late October and is modeled after such successful private discount carriers as Britain’s Easy Jet and Ireland’s Ryanair, according to its management. It will initially operate two Airbus 320 jets and plans to add two more jets and destinations early next year.
Sharjah, which already has an international airport, has embarked on an ambitious development campaign, following the lead of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the two major components of the seven-member UAE federation. Since 1985, Dubai has operated Emirates airlines, which aims to become the leading Middle East carrier.
Abu Dhabi, in concert with the Gulf states of Bahrain and Oman, finances Gulf Air, a regional carrier that has been mired in financial difficulties for the past few years.