Dubai: Sharjah International Airport recorded a 19.58 per cent upswing in passenger numbers in the second quarter as airlines briefly added route capacity to the airport.
A number of airlines including Air India, Jet Airways and Pakistan International Airlines increased their operations at Sharjah International over the May 1 to July 20 period.
The airlines temporarily shifted capacity over from Dubai International, which was under going runway refurbishment work over the 80 day period.
More than 2.6 million passengers used the airport in the three-month period ending June 30, compared to 2.17 million in the corresponding period a year earlier.
The number of aircraft landing and taking off at the airport in the country’s third-biggest emirate increased 16.28 per cent to 18,979. The amount of freight handled increased 5.28 per cent to 87,207 tonnes.
The airport half year numbers were also up. For the six months ending June 30, the airport handled 13.89 per cent more passengers than the first six months of 2013 with more than 4.8 million travelling through the airport.
Aircraft landings and take off’s increased 7.37 per cent year-on-year to 35,52 in the first six months of the year, however, the amount freight handled decreased 13.22 per cent to 138,252 tonnes.
Air Arabia, the base carrier at Sharjah International, carried 1.6 million passengers in the second quarter, up 8 per cent, according to its half-year results released earlier this month.
Over the first half of the year, the low cost carrier carried 3.36 million passengers, up 11 per cent from the same period a year ago.
