Sharjah International Airport

Sharjah International Airport (Arabic: مطار الشارقة, romanized: Maṭār 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
IATA: SHJ ICAO: OMSJ
Summary
Airport type	Public / military
Operator	Sharjah Airport
Serves	Sharjah, Ajman (city) , Dubai
Location	Sharjah
Operating base for	Air Arabia
Time zone	UAE Standard Time (UTC+04:00)
Elevation AMSL	116 ft / 35 m
Coordinates	25°19′45″N 055°30′58″E
Website	www.sharjahairport.ae
Map
SHJ/OMSJ Location in the UAE Show map of United Arab Emirates SHJ/OMSJ SHJ/OMSJ (Middle East) Show map of Middle East SHJ/OMSJ SHJ/OMSJ (Asia) Show map of Asia
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 12/30 4,060 13,320 Asphalt
Statistics (2023)
Passengers 15,300,000 ( 17.7%) Movements 132,786 ( 8.8%) Cargo tonnage 318,522 ( 10.8%)
Sources: UAE AIP[1] Statistics from Sharjah International Airport[2]

Overview

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

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

Passenger

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

Airlines	Destinations
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 (resumes 28 November 2024),[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	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

Airlines	Destinations
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

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

• 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

• Mahatta Fort, the previous site of the airport
• List of the busiest airports in the Middle East

References

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

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External links

Media related to Sharjah International Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• Accident history for SHJ at Aviation Safety Network
• Aeronautical chart and airport information for OMSJ at SkyVector
• Current weather for OMSJ at NOAA/NWS