Rak Airways adds 2 destinations

UAE’s Rak Airways on Tuesday announced that it would start flights to Islamabad and Amman from next month.

The airline will start flying to Islamabad on August 5 and Amman on August 7, 2013.

Earlier this month, Murabit Al Sawaf, President and CEO of Rak Airways, said the airline is visualising a strategic growth path with new destinations and increase in its fleet size and that within the next few weeks the airline will announce five new destinations.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Al Sawaf said the carrier is aiming to buy 10 single-aisle aircraft and negotiations are currently underway with Boeing, Airbus and Bombardier.

He said the carrier is looking at the option of buying Boeing 737-800, Airbus A320 and CSeries from Bombardier.

It has also signed a deal with International Lease Finance Corp. to take an Airbus A319 and crew.

The airline saw passenger numbers to the tune of 300,000 in 2012 and in the first quarter of 2013, the numbers have jumped 40 per cent.

Islamabad is Rak Airways’ third entry point into Pakistan.

In 2011, the airline made its first entry into Pakistan with two-weekly flights to Lahore and Peshawar. In the first half of 2013, the airline increased its frequency to Lahore and Peshawar from two to three flights a week, to meet passenger demand.

Al Sawaf said: “With over 600,000 expatriate Pakistan nationals, contributing to the economy of the United Arab Emirates, Rak Airways is glad to provide another entry into Pakistan through the launch of service to Islamabad.”

Speaking of the launch of Amman, Al Sawaf said: “As for the launch of Amman, I must say that this is the first entry of Rak Airways into the levant region. With the inauguration of RAK-Amman route and a one way fare of Dh400, we look forward to encourage more passenger traffic – leisure, business and tourism from Ras Al Khaimah to Jordan and from UAE to Jordan as well, thus positively impacting the tourism and industry of both the economies.”

With the addition of the two new routes, Rak Airways will fly to 11 destinations. At present, the airline operates to 9 destinations.

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