MARTINAIR, the Holland
based airline, will use Sharjah International
Airport for transit stops when its charter
flights fly to Kahtmandu and Colombo
later this year. This was disclosed
by Peter Scholten, vice-president Asia
Pacific of Martinair Cargo at a reception
held at Sharjah Airport to celebrate
the opening of the airline’s office
and choosing Sharjah as its hub.
“We will have two flights to Kathmandu, Nepal from September
this year which will stop at Sharjah
Airport. We will follow that up with
flights to Colombo which again will
be routed through Sharjah,” he
said.
Elaborating further, he told The Gulf Today, that these will
be technical stops which will also enable
passengers to do a little shopping at
the airport’s duty free shops.
“These flights will be operated
by our leisure department and will be
on behalf of charter companies in Holland,”
he said.
On operating
charter flights to Sharjah, Scholten
disclosed that though there were no
immediate plans in the offing, it could
not be ruled out. “A number of
destinations are under study and flights
to Sharjah could become a possibility
as it continues to grow as a tourist
destination,” he said.
He added that the airline which operates charter flights to
the Mediterranean and the Caribean will
use Sharjah Airport for a lot of its
operations especially now that it had
an office and the airport was being
used as a hub for Middle East operations.
“As we have operations from Sharjah,
it makes sense to have passenger and
cargo services operate through here,”
he said.
In the latter part of this year, the airline will have 22
stops per week in the new cargo hub
in addition to the charter flights.
The implementation of a cargo hub in
the Middle East is part of the carrier’s
expansion plans in the Asia Pacific
region.