Sharjah International Airport

Sharjah International Airport (Arabic: مطار الشارقة, romanizedMaṭār aš-Šāriqa) (IATA: SHJ, ICAO: OMSJ) is an international airport located 7 nautical miles (13 km; 8.1 mi)[1] east-southeast of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. It is spread over an area of 15,200,000 m2 (3,800 acres).[3] It has one runway, and is the only airport in Sharjah capable of international flights as of 2022. By 2027 it is expected to increase its capacity to 25 million passengers annually.[4]

Sharjah International Airport

مطار الشارقة
Summary
Airport typePublic / military
OperatorSharjah Airport
Serves
LocationSharjah
Operating base forAir Arabia
Time zoneUAE Standard Time (UTC+04:00)
Elevation AMSL116 ft / 35 m
Coordinates25°19′45″N 055°30′58″E / 25.32917°N 55.51611°E / 25.32917; 55.51611
Websitewww.sharjahairport.ae
Map
SHJ/OMSJ is located in United Arab Emirates
SHJ/OMSJ
SHJ/OMSJ
Location in the UAE
SHJ/OMSJ is located in Middle East
SHJ/OMSJ
SHJ/OMSJ
SHJ/OMSJ (Middle East)
SHJ/OMSJ is located in Asia
SHJ/OMSJ
SHJ/OMSJ
SHJ/OMSJ (Asia)
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
12/30 4,060 13,320 Asphalt
Statistics (2023)
Passengers15,300,000 (Increase 17.7%)
Movements132,786 (Increase 8.8%)
Cargo tonnage318,522 (Increase 10.8%)
Sources: UAE AIP[1]
Statistics from Sharjah International Airport[2]

Overview

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Sharjah International Airport is the third largest Middle East air freight hub in cargo tonnage, according to official 2015 statistics from Airports Council International. Ground services company, Sharjah Aviation Services, handled 586,195 tonnes in 2015 – a 16.1% increase year on year.[5] It has one passenger terminal with an area of 125,000 m2 (1,350,000 sq ft).[5]

Sharjah International Airport is home base of the low-cost carrier Air Arabia. The headquarters of Air Arabia is in the Sharjah Freight Center,[6] on the property of the airport[7] in Sharjah, UAE.[6] The center is an old cargo terminal.

It replaced RAF Sharjah, which was closer to the city and was opened in 1932. It was the first airport in UAE and the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, for use by Imperial Airways, and was subsequently used by the RAF until 14 December 1971.[8] The reason for the move was development pressure from the city of Sharjah. The old terminal and tower building is now Al Mahatta Museum.[9] The old airport's runway is now part of King Abdul Aziz Street in the city centre.[10][11][12]

The airport was used by the United States Air Force 926th Tactical Fighter Group during Operation Desert Shield/Storm.[13] Approximately 450 members of the unit were stationed at the airport, which flew A-10 Thunderbolt II ground attack aircraft during the conflict in late 1990 and early 1991.[14]

Facilities

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The airport is at an elevation of 116 feet (35 m) above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 12/30 with an asphalt surface measuring 4,060 m × 60 m (13,320 ft × 197 ft).[1][15]

Founded in 1985, Sharjah Airport Travel Agency is owned by the Sharjah Airport Authority, Government of Sharjah and has 14 branches in the UAE, including one on the first floor of the main terminal at Sharjah Airport.[16]

There are two prayer rooms available, one in the transit area of the Arrivals Terminal and the other on the ground floor of the Departures Terminal. There are mosques in both the East and West Cargo Terminals 3 and 4.

Airlines and destinations

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Passenger

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The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from Sharjah:[17]

AirlinesDestinations
Aeroflot Seasonal: Moscow–Sheremetyevo[18]
Air Arabia Abha, Ahmedabad, Alexandria, Al Jawf, Almaty, Amman–Queen Alia, Athens,[19] Baghdad, Bahrain, Baku,[20] Bangalore, Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi,[21] Beirut, Bergamo,[22] Bishkek,[23] Cairo, Chennai, Chittagong, Coimbatore, Colombo–Bandaranaike, Dammam, Delhi, Dhaka, Doha,[24] Entebbe,[25] Erbil, Faisalabad, Gassim, Giza,[26] Goa–Mopa,[27] Ha'il,[28] Hyderabad, Istanbul,[29] Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen, Jaipur, Jeddah, Jizan, Kabul, Karachi, Kathmandu, Kazan, Kochi, Kozhikode, Kuala Lumpur–International, Kuwait City, Lar, Malé,[30] Mashhad, Medina, Moscow–Domodedovo, Multan, Mumbai, Muscat, Nagpur, Nairobi–Jomo Kenyatta, Najaf, Osh, Peshawar, Quetta, Riyadh, Salalah, Samara, Shiraz, Sialkot, Sohag, Sohar, Tabuk, Ta'if, Tashkent,[31] Tbilisi, Tehran–Imam Khomeini, Thiruvananthapuram, Trabzon, Ufa,[32] Vienna (resumes 20 December 2024),[33] Warsaw–Chopin (begins 20 December 2024),[34] Yanbu,[35] Yekaterinburg, Yerevan
Seasonal: Kraków, Namangan, Phuket,[23] Sarajevo[36]
airblue Islamabad, Lahore, Multan
Air Cairo Seasonal: Alexandria (begins 3 December 2024), Assiut (begins 5 December 2024)[37]
Air India Express Amritsar, Delhi, Indore,[38] Kannur, Kochi, Kozhikode, Mumbai, Surat, Thiruvananthapuram, Tiruchirappalli, Varanasi, Vijayawada[39]
Air Peace Lagos[40]
AJet Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen[41]
Biman Bangladesh Airlines Chittagong, Dhaka, Sylhet[42][43]
Cham Wings Airlines Aleppo, Damascus, Latakia[44]
Egyptair Cairo
FitsAir Seasonal charter: Malé,[45] Yerevan[45]
Fly Jinnah Islamabad, Lahore[46]
flynas Jeddah, Medina[47]
IndiGo Amritsar, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram
Iraqi Airways Baghdad[48]
Jordan Aviation Amman–Queen Alia
Kam Air Kabul
Nordwind Airlines Moscow–Sheremetyevo[49]
Pakistan International Airlines Multan, Peshawar,[50] Sialkot[51]
Pegasus Airlines Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen
Qatar Airways Doha[52]
Rossiya Airlines Seasonal charter: Yekaterinburg
SereneAir Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar
Syrian Air Damascus, Latakia
Turkish Airlines Istanbul[53]
US-Bangla Airlines Dhaka[54]
Uzbekistan Airways Tashkent

Cargo

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AirlinesDestinations
Aerotranscargo[55][56][57] Dammam, Hong Kong, Jeddah, Munich, Riyadh
Astral Aviation[58][59] Delhi, Eldoret, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Nairobi–Jomo Kenyatta
DHL Aviation[citation needed] Amsterdam, Bahrain, Cincinnati, Hong Kong, Lagos, Leipzig/Halle
EgyptAir Cargo[60] Cairo
Ethiopian Cargo[61] Addis Ababa
Express Air Cargo[62] Bangalore, Hong Kong, Tunis
IndiGo CarGo Delhi, Mumbai
Singapore Airlines Cargo[63] Amsterdam, Brussels, London–Heathrow, Singapore
UPS Airlines[64] Cologne, Hong Kong, Seoul–Incheon, Shenzhen

Statistics

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Aerial view
 
Terminal interior
 
Terminal interior
 
A British Airways Concorde in Sharjah on 20 August 1977
 
A Kazakhstan Airlines Tu-154 in Sharjah on 1 October 1994
Annual passenger traffic at SHJ airport. See Wikidata query.
Traffic at Sharjah International Airport[2][65]
Year Total passengers Total cargo Total aircraft movements
1999 1,001,852 580,550 27,577
2000 948,207 475,122 25,997
2001 861,478 415,587 24,431
2002 1,028,624 497,010 24,803
2003 1,247,458 507,644 28,017
2004 1,661,941 500,927 32,334
2005 2,237,646 505,392 38,699
2006 3,064,396 569,511 44,182
2007 4,324,313 570,363 51,314
2008 5,280,445 586,677 60,813
2009 5,764,098 501,824 61,451
2011 6,600,000 417,116 63,737
2012 7,516,538 475,116 65,975
2013 8,505,268 493,402 66,247
2014 9,516,600 528,250 70,559
2015 11,993,887 586,195 98,786

Accidents and incidents

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  • On 15 December 1997, a Tupolev Tu-154 from Tajikistan Airlines Flight 3183 crashed on approach to SHJ. Some 13 km from Sharjah the plane ran into terrain and 85 of the 86 occupants died. One of the seven crew members survived the disaster.[66]
  • On 10 February 2004, Kish Air Flight 7170, operated by a Fokker 50 crashed on approach, killing 43 of its 46 occupants, which consisted of 3 crew and 40 passengers.[67][68]
  • On 7 November 2004, an Air Atlanta Boeing 747 freighter was damaged beyond repair due to an aborted take-off with insufficient runway remaining. None of the four crew was injured. The take-off was aborted after a report of smoke from the control tower and hearing a loud bang in the cockpit.[69]
  • On 21 October 2009, Azza Transport Flight 2241, operated by a Boeing 707–320, crashed on take-off. The flight was carrying cargo only and all six crew members were killed.[70][71]

See also

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References

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  This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

  1. ^ a b c United Arab Emirates AIP Archived 30 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine (login required)
  2. ^ a b "Airport Statistics". Sharjah Airport. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012.
  3. ^ "Information for Prospective Airline". Archived from the original on 30 December 2013.
  4. ^ WAM. "Sharjah Airport welcomes over 4.2 million passengers in first quarter of 2024". Khaleej Times. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  5. ^ a b "Sharjah International Airport is the third largest Middle East airfreight hub in cargo tonnage, according to official 2015 statistics from Airports Council InTernational. Ground services company, Sharjah Aviation Services, handled 586,195 tonnes in 2015 – a 16.1% increase year on year. It has one passenger terminal with an area of 125,000 m2 (1,350,000 sq ft)". Social | Digital | Google | PR | Radio | OOH | Website | Video | SMS | Email. 17 August 2022. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  6. ^ a b "Contact Info Archived 20 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine." Air Arabia. Retrieved on 21 June 2010. "Air Arabia (UAE) Air Arabia Head Quarters Sharjah Freight Center (Cargo), near Sharjah International Airport P.O. Box 132 Sharjah, United Arab Emirates"
  7. ^ Sobie, Brendan. "Low cost & regionals: Arabian pioneers." Flight International. 23 April 2007. Retrieved on 8 February 2011. "Air Arabia's headquarters is hidden in a dated cargo terminal at Sharjah airport, a 15km (9 miles) drive from central Dubai, which should take 15 minutes but can take up to two hours during rush hour."
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  10. ^ "Airports and ATC: nothing but the best", Flight International, 30 July 1977, p.354 (online archive version). Retrieved 3 September 2010.
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  12. ^ Sharjah – How to Get There Archived 3 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 3 September 2010.
  13. ^ "USAF Historical Research Agency Document 00874269".
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  34. ^ https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/240830-g9nw24waw
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  65. ^ Report), (Staff. "Sharjah airport records 14% growth in passengers". www.khaleejtimes.com. Archived from the original on 30 December 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
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