Air Arabia has announced additional flights to Jeddah for Umrah pilgrimage. The special schedule, to be operational between September 28, 2006 and October 22, 2006, will be available for GCC nationals and passengers with Umrah visas only. The additional service to Jeddah for Umrah will take off from Sharjah and land at the Jeddah Haj terminal.

Regular flights to Jeddah will continue to be operational every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, taking off from Sharjah at 0825 hours local time, arriving in Jeddah at 1010 hours and return flight taking off at 1055 Jeddah time, to arrive in Sharjah at 1435 local time.

The increased schedule to Jeddah is part of the airline’s concerted efforts to offer affordable travel and provide adequate flight capacity for those who wish to perform Umrah rituals, during the Holy month of Ramadan. The flights will land at the special Haj terminus at Jeddah.

In his comments on the additional flights for Umrah, Mr. Adel Ali, CEO of Air Arabia, said:

>‘With the onset of the Holy month of Ramadan, the demand for travel to Jeddah for Umrah has increased tremendously. To cope with this demand, we have decided to add additional frequency on the Sharjah-Jeddah sector. We have always been committed to the people of the region and our decision to offer even more affordable travel on this sector is testimony to that fact.’

He added: ‘As we increase the ease and accessibility for more people to make this sacred journey to the Holy land, Air Arabia would like to once again express our gratitude to the government and Civil Aviation Authority in Saudi Arabia for their support and assistance in granting us the rights for the flights. As we grow in the region, we remain unswerving in our commitment to offer our services to a wider base of customers. Needless to say, we hope to add more flights on our routes to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as the demand for affordable travel increases.’

Air Arabia’s 26 destinations include Aleppo and Damascus (Syria); Alexandria, Assiut, Luxor (Egypt); Amman (Jordan); Astana and Almaty (Kazakhstan); Bahrain; Beirut (Lebanon); Colombo (Sri Lanka); Dammam, Jeddah and Riyadh (KSA), Doha (Qatar); Khartoum (Sudan); Kuwait; Jaipur, Kochi, Mumbai and Nagpur (India); Muscat (Oman); Sana’a (Yemen); Sharjah (UAE) and Tehran (Iran) and to Europe with Istanbul (Turkey).
——-