Low-cost airline, Air Arabia has announced that Multan in Pakistan will be added to its route network from next month.

This latest addition to the airline’s route network will bring the total number of destinations in Pakistan served by Air Arabia to six, as the airline also directly serves Karachi, Peshawar, Sialkot, Lahor and Islamabad from Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah International Airports.

Flights to Multan will begin on May 1, 2015, operating on four-times weekly on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Flights will depart Sharjah International airport at 04:45am, arriving into Multan at 08:20am while the return flights will depart Multan International Airport at 09:00am, arriving into Sharjah at 10:50am local time.

Adel A. Ali, Group chief executive officer of Air Arabia, said: “With a population of more than 180 million and within just a few hours flight time from the UAE, Pakistan has always been a promising market for Air Arabia.”

Located on the banks of the Chenab River, Multan is home to more than three million people and is Pakistan’s fifth largest city. Multan is an important cultural and commercial centre with a strong economy largely based on industry and agriculture.

“We have established a comprehensive network of destinations spanning the country and brought Air Arabia’s value for money proposition within easy reach of millions of people flying between the UAE and Pakistan. We look forward to further investing in increasing our reach in Pakistan by offering more destinations and flights in the near future,” added Adel A. Ali.

Air Arabia has added a number of new destinations to its network in 2015, and in January it became the first low-cost airline from the Middle East and Africa to enter the Chinese market, with the launch of services to Urumqi.

The carrier added both Isfahan and Sanandaj in Iran and Gizan in Saudi Arabia in the first quarter of 2015, as well as increasing frequencies on a number of services on existing routes.

In 2014, Air Arabia’s full year net profit reflected the airline’s continued growth and levels of profitability, registering a 30 percent growth for the full year. Now in its eleventh year of operations, the airline now operates from five international hubs including the UAE, Morocco, Egypt and Amman.