Jet Airways, India’s premier international airline, has announced that it will launch a new daily route from Mangaluru (Mangalore) in southern India to Sharjah in the UAE from 7 August 2016. Mangaluru is the main port city of Karnataka, India’s twelfth largest state by population.
Jet Airways is India’s second largest airline operating flights to 73 destinations, including 22 international flights and 51 domestic flights. Beginning in August, the Indian carrier will fly daily from Mangaluru at 9.30am, arriving in Sharjah International Airport at 11.45am local time. Return flights will leave Sharjah at 12.45pm and reach Mangaluru at 5.55pm. Jet already operates daily direct flights from Kochi in the Indian state of Kerala to Sharjah.
India is well connected to Sharjah, with international low cost airline Air India Express operating flights to the emirate from six Indian destinations and Sharjah-headquartered Air Arabia operating flights between Sharjah and 13 key Indian destinations.
The UAE is a popular business and tourism destination for India, which currently ranks as the Emirates’ third largest trade partner after China and the USA. Indian investment in the UAE is estimated at about US$ 52 billion (AED 190b), with India being the largest single origin of investors for Sharjah’s Hamriyah Free Zone and Sharjah International Airport Free Zone (SAIF Zone). SAIF Zone organised an extensive marketing roadshow in India over the early part of this year to target Indian investors.
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.
Source: Jet Airways, various
Update 10 January 2017: Jet Airways stopped flying its Mangalore-Sharjah route from 31 December 2016 for ‘operational reasons’.