Athens to welcome AirArabia, the largest Low-cost carrier in the Middle East and North Africa
AirArabia will connect Sharjah with Athens, 4 times weekly in Summer 2024
On the 26th of January 2024, AirArabia announced the addition of Athens to its network.
Air Arabia will launch its non-stop service from Sharjah to Athens on the 28th of June 2024, operating the route 4 times weekly, with its A320 equipment and will be a new airline addition to Athens International Airport’s network, while Sharjah will be a brand new destination.
As stated by AirArabia, its aim is to facilitate increased accessibility for both business and leisure travelers, fostering economic and cultural ties between the UAE and Greece.
In 2019, Athens was connected to the UAE with Emirates Airlines, operating to DXB and Etihad Airways operating to AUH, both airlines offering significant connecting and local traffic to Athens.
Increased demand for travel between the UAE and Athens, resulted in WizzAir Abu Dhabi introducing its very first European route on the 15th of January 2021 to Athens. The success of the route is evident by the fact that it started in the peak of the pandemic and continues non-stop since and by the fact that, the airline traffic on the route grew by 132% in 2022 vs. 2021 and further grew in 2023 by 70% to 2022, reaching 56 thousand passengers (round-trip).
Overall, demand for travel between UAE and Athens further grew and Aegean Airlines launched its first direct service to DXB on November 2023. Aegean is offering 6 weekly frequencies in Winter 2023/2024 season and will operate the route daily in the Summer season.
Based on AirportIS O&D traffic data, passenger volumes between UAE and Athens grew by 22% in the period Jan-Nov 2023, compared to the same period in 2019. Impressively, O&D traffic (local) between UAE and Athens not only grew on the non-stop services, but also in the 1-stop services, with 1-stop traffic increasing by 13%.
AirArabia is entering the Athens market to capture a significant share of the traffic and further stimulate the market, with its 4 weekly non-stop service from/to Sharjah.
Our warmest wishes to our airline partner for full and safe flights and further development in the Athens market.