Air Arabia, the Sharjah-based low cost carrier, will launch operations from its Ras Al Khaimah hub on May 6, said Gulf News.

The move follows suspension of RAK Airways operations on New Year’s Day earlier this year.

Air Arabia will use two Airbus A320s to service routes to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, Cairo in Egypt, Muscat in Oman, Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar in Pakistan, Dhaka in Bangladesh and Calicut in India.

Adel Ali, Air Arabia Group chief executive, said Jeddah and Calicut will be daily services but added that the airline is waiting on paperwork for the final approval on the Calicut route.

Air Arabia is based out of Sharjah and also has hub operations out of Alexandria in Egypt and Casablanca in Morocco.

Ali, speaking at press conference in Ras Al Khaimah, said that future routes will be dependent on market demand and that it is likely the Ras Al Khaimah hub will double-up on routes already operated out of Sharjah International Airport.

The two airports are 85 kilometres apart.

Air Arabia, which is the UAE’s only publicly listed airline, is moving into the northern emirate after former national carrier RAK Airways suspended services on New Year’s Day.
Ali declined to say whether there is an exit clause in the contract to operate from Ras Al Khaimah but affirmed that it is a ‘long-term partnership’ between the airline and emirate.

“It is a new partnership that will open a new era of affordable travel to the people living in the northern emirates,” said Shaikh Salem Bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Chairman of RAK Department of Civil Aviation and RAK Airport.

Ras Al Khaimah officials believe that the addition of Air Arabia, who announced in February it would become the national carrier of the emirate, will be a catalyst for tourism development.