Sharjah Update Sharjah business & Investment News from Invest in Sharjah (Sharjah FDI Office)
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Sharjah International Airport passenger traffic soared in the second quarter of 2014 as the airport added more than 200 flights over May, June and early July as a result of runway repair works taking place at the nearby Dubai airport. Sharjah handled 2.6 million passengers in the second quarter, being 20 percent more than during the same period in 2013, when 2.2 million passengers passed through the airport.
Second quarter passenger traffic through Sharjah International Airport neared one million passengers per month, peaking at 926,979 in May, 27% higher than total passengers handled during May 2013. Overall, during the first half of 2014 the airport handled 4.9 million passengers, 14 percent more than during the first half of 2013. A total of 35,352 flights took off an landed at the airport and a total of 138 thousand tonnes of cargo was handled.
Construction of a new AED 500 million (USD 136 million) runway at the airport is expected to be completed over the summer, adding capacity for large, new-generation ICAO Code F aircraft such as the Airbus A380 and Boeings B747-8 Intercontinental and B747-8 freighter.
Sharjah’s regional flight connections and location adjacent to Dubai have made it a strategic hub for a variety of passenger and cargo carriers. Air Arabia, the largest low-cost carrier operator in the Middle East and North Africa, is head-quartered in Sharjah. The airline currently serves 97 destinations and has just announced record second quarter earnings for 2014.
Earlier in the summer, global business aviation services company Gama Aviation opened its own full-service terminal for private aviation customers at Sharjah airport, catering to its international customers and those in Sharjah, Dubai and the Northern Emirates.
Leading international cargo carriers, Lufthansa Cargo and AeroLogic, the joint venture cargo airline of DHL Express, have also both made Sharjah a regional hub.
Source: Sharjah International Airport statistics
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