Dubai: Air Blue, Pakistan's private international airline, started a direct Sharjah-Lahore service on Monday.
The airline will operate four weekly flights initially and is expected to increase this frequency to daily in about three months, Sarosh Bhatti, general manager of marketing, told Gulf News.
"There are 200,000 Pakistanis living in Sharjah, plus a lot of others who live in Dubai. Sharjah for us is a key market.
"There is a lot of development going on around the emirate, so a lot of labour [traffic] is moving back and forth from here to Pakistan," he said.
The airline is also scheduled to start flights between Sharjah and Islamabad from December 15.
In five to six months' time, the airline expects to have two daily flights from Pakistan to Sharjah.
With four flights a week, the airline expects to transport 4,000-4,500 passengers every month.
After the commencement of flights between Islamabad and Sharjah, the numbers will go up to about 10,000, according to Bhatti.
Airbus fleet
The airline currently operates eight Airbus aircraft to four domestic and five international destinations.
Bhatti said an order for 14 aircraft had been placed, the delivery of which will begin during the middle of next year.
"After the deliveries, we are planning to start flights to India, Kuwait, Europe, London and the Far East. There will be a lot of expansion starting next year," said Bhatti.
Ganem Al Hajiri, director-general of the Sharjah Airport Authority, said at a programme marking the inaugural flight yesterday: "With the start of this new route there will be a positive impact in developing the flow of tourists and business interests between the UAE and Pakistan."
Al Hajri also said 500 passengers travel from Sharjah to Pakistan every day, carried by all airlines, including Air Arabia that conducts 17 flights a week.
