The fact that Air Arabia flew from Sharjah to Alexandria(Egypt) was one of the main catalyst for my wonderful holiday to Egypt in early 2005. To me, travelling is an incurable itch, but as long as I can treat the itch in an inexpensive way, I’m happy with it! And budget airlines springing up all over has only made my itch even more incurable:)
Air Arabia started in 2003 and within two years has a long list of destinations, which keep increasing regularly. In India, Air Arabia, which is based in Sharjah(15 kms away from Dubai) flies daily to Mumbai (Rs. 4000 all inclusive is the cheapest one way ticket, provided you book early) and it now also flies to Nagpur for almost similar fares. This is quite unbeatable by any other normal airline in this sector, except of course by Air India Express, Air Indias’ new budget airline-which was launched quite recently(check my review on that for more details).
The booking and ticketing took place online, and was hassle free for me via a credit card. I had a printed ticket in my hand when I made my way to the airport, and though the check-in queues were long, it was smooth and eventless. Eventually we boarded the flight, which was on time. Apart from bottled water, nothing else is offered for free. There is a printed menu with the items available on board to purchase, and I must admit, the food was quite tasty and reasonably priced, though not warm. The best part was that in-flight entertainment was there, in form of small screens that dropped down from the ceiling, and to hear the audio clearly one could purchase the headphones for a small sum. This kept the boredom away during my 6 hour flight. The flight crew were young, helpful and energetic with smart outfits and a smile on their faces. They had a mix of Arabic and Asian cabin crew, which made communication very smooth. My only problem was that the return flight was over an hour late, and the reason given was that the aircraft had not arrived yet! Which meant that this aircraft are flown to and fro like a shuttle service, and that meant that if a flight did not arrive on time, it could not take off also on time!
I travelled once more on this aircraft, doing the Sharjah-Bahrain sector on a short 1 hour flight, and once more, I had a pleasant experience! This airline is sure to grow by leaps and bounds especially in this region. Once the Gulf-Kerala route also is started(which they have been trying but which the government refuses to give permission fearing great losses for AI and IA which fleece the common man with exorbitant rates on this route), it will be a really great boon to the people. Last week, Air Arabia started facing competition from Jazeera Airways, a Kuwait based ’’budget’’ airline which also promises to take the Air Arabia route. I dont see this happening though. Let us wait and watch :)