Sharjah airport to be expanded

Sharjah International Airport is working on a new master plan for its expansion after it reached full capacity, said a senior official.

Speaking to Emirates 24l7, Ghanem Al Hajri, Chairman of Sharjah Airport Authority, said: “We are developing a new master plan because we’ve crossed the capacity of seven million passengers in 2012. We are reviewing the master plan in order to meet the expansion needs of the airport. The review is underway and the result is expected by the end of this year; so accordingly we’ll announce the expansion plan.”

Sharjah International Airport handled over 7.5 million passengers last year compared to 6.6 million in the previous year, registering 13.6 per cent growth.

Air craft movements rose 3.5 per cent to 65,975 during in 2012 as compared to 63,737 in the previous year. It handled 419,116 tonnes cargo last year.

Al Hajri said the initial study is being carried out and “by the end of this year we’ll able to announce expansion plan and sign the contract (for the expansion of the airport)”.

Al Hajri said earlier this year that growth is largely the result of the rapid expansion of Air Arabia, which is now the first largest source of passenger traffic at Sharjah International Airport, also by the other airlines which launched additional flights to the Airport, additional services by existing airlines, as well as the attractiveness of Sharjah as a business and tourist destination and an efficient transit point.

Earlier this month, World Economic Forum rated UAE’s air transport infrastructure as the world’s third best in its World Travel and Tourism Competitiveness report.

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