Middle East and North Africa’s low-cost carrier (LCC), Air Arabia inaugurated its direct flight between Kuala Lumpur and Sharjah. The seven-hour flight between the two cities is the first direct flight by a low-cost carrier connecting Malaysia with the UAE and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

Commenting on the inaugural launch of the route, Adel Al Ali, group chief executive officer of Air Arabia said: “We are the first low cost airline to connect Kuala Lumpur with the UAE and GCC. We are optimistic this new service linking the two cities will further strengthen the trade and tourism ties between both nations while providing our customers with a great value-for-money option to travel between both countries and beyond.”

According to YB Datuk Mohamadin Ketapi, minister of tourism, arts and culture Malaysia: “This year, our target is to have 337,100 tourists from West Asia region. The establishment of Air Arabia’s Sharjah-Kuala Lumpur route will certainly help with increasing tourist arrivals from this region.  The flight couldn’t have come at a better time as we are also aggressively promoting Malaysia in the run-up to our Visit Malaysia 2020 campaign.”

Raja Azmi, group chief executive officer of Malaysia Airports, said Air Arabia is the 75^th airline to operate from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) main terminal.

Air Arabia currently operates flights to more than 170 routes across the globe from four hubs located in the Middle East and North Africa.