Sharjah International Airport ( ar, مطار الشارقة, Maṭār aš-Šāriqa) () is an

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...

located east-southeast of

Sharjah Sharjah (; ar, ٱلشَّارقَة ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi, forming part of the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area. Sharjah is the capital o ...

, United Arab Emirates. It is spread over an area of . It has one runway, making it the only airport in Sharjah capable of international flights as of 2022.

Overview

Sharjah International Airport is the third largest Middle East airfreight 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. It has one passenger terminal with an area of . Sharjah International Airport is home base of the

low-cost carrier A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline (occasionally referred to as '' no-frills'', ''budget'' or '' discount carrier'' or ''airline'', and abbreviated as ''LCC'') is an airline that is operated with an especially high emphasis on minimizing op ...

Air Arabia. The headquarters of Air Arabia is in the Sharjah Freight Center,Contact Info
." Air Arabia. Retrieved on 21 June 2010. "Air Arabia (UAE) Air Arabia Head Quarters Sharjah Freight Center (Cargo), near Sharjah International Airport P.O. Box 132 Sharjah, United Arab Emirates" on the property of the airportSobie, Brendan.

" ''

Flight International ''Flight International'' is a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", it is the world's oldes ...

''. 23 April 2007. Retrieved on 8 February 2011. "Air Arabia's headquarters is hidden in a dated cargo terminal at Sharjah airport, a 15km (9 miles) drive from central Dubai, which should take 15 minutes but can take up to two hours during rush hour." in Sharjah, UAE. The center is an old cargo terminal.

History

The current Sharjah International Airport was built in the 1970s and was opened on 31 December 1976. On 20 August 1977, Concorde 202 G-BBDG, which came from Filton and refuelled at Damascus landed at Sharjah International Airport. The aircraft also made a short flight display over the city. The BAe party was headed by Sir Geoffrey Tuttle, which received a great welcome, the whole party were also given watches and a few received magnificent swords as well. 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 The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf ( ar, مجلس التعاون لدول العربية الخليج ), also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC; ar, مجلس التعاون الخليجي), is a regional, interg ...

, for use by

Imperial Airways Imperial Airways was the early British commercial long-range airline, operating from 1924 to 1939 and principally serving the British Empire routes to South Africa, India, Australia and the Far East, including Malaya and Hong Kong. Passenger ...

, and was subsequently used by the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

until 14 December 1971. The reason for the move was development pressure from the city of Sharjah. The old terminal and tower building is now Al Mahatta Museum. The old airport's runway is now part of King Abdul Aziz Street in the city centre. The airport was used by the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

926th Tactical Fighter Group The 926th Wing is an Air Reserve Component of the United States Air Force. It is assigned to the Tenth Air Force, Air Force Reserve Command, stationed at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. The unit is a composite organization consisting of two Ope ...

during Operation Desert Shield/Storm. Approximately 450 members of the unit were stationed at the airport, which flew

A-10 Thunderbolt II The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II is a single-seat, twin-turbofan, straight-wing, subsonic attack aircraft developed by Fairchild Republic for the United States Air Force (USAF). In service since 1976, it is named for the Republic ...

ground attack aircraft during the conflict in late 1990 and early 1991.

Facilities

The airport is at an elevation of above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. ...

. It has one

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

designated 12/30 with an

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

surface measuring . Financial services at the airport include banking, ATMs and exchange centres. 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. There are two

prayer room A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common type ...

s available, one in the transit area of the Arrivals Terminal and the other in the ground floor of the Departures Terminal. In addition to this there are

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

s 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:

Cargo

Statistics

Sharjah - International (SHJ - OMSJ) AN0942458

Ground transport

The airport is away from central

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

Accidents and incidents

*On 15 December 1997, a

Tupolev Tu-154 The Tupolev Tu-154 (russian: Tyполев Ту-154; NATO reporting name: "Careless") is a three-engined, medium-range, narrow-body airliner designed in the mid-1960s and manufactured by Tupolev. A workhorse of Soviet and (subsequently) Russian ...

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. *On 10 February 2004,

Kish Air Flight 7170 Kish Air Flight 7170 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Kish Island in Iran to Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, operated by Iranian airliner Kish Air. On February 10, 2004, the aircraft serving the route, a Fokker 50, lost control ...

, operated by a

Fokker 50 The Fokker 50 is a turboprop-powered airliner, designed as an improved version of the successful Fokker F27 Friendship. The Fokker 60 is a stretched freighter version of the Fokker 50. Both aircraft were manufactured and supported by Dutch airc ...

crashed on approach, killing 43 of its 46 occupants, which consisted of 3 crew and 40 passengers. *On 7 November 2004, an Air Atlanta

Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022. After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, t ...

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.AviationSafety.net database on plan
TF-APR
retrieved 9 May 2009 *On 21 October 2009,

Azza Transport Flight 2241 Sudan Airways Flight 2241 was a scheduled cargo flight from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates to Khartoum, Sudan operated by a Boeing 707-330C which crashed on 21 October 2009. Aircraft and crew The aircraft involved was Boeing 707-330C ST-AKW. Th ...

, operated by a

Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first flew on December 20, ...

–320, crashed on take-off. The flight was carrying cargo only and all six crew members were killed.

References

External links

Official website
* * * {{authority control 1977 establishments in the United Arab Emirates Airports established in 1977 Airports in the United Arab Emirates Geography of the Emirate of Sharjah Transport in the Emirate of Sharjah Buildings and structures in the Emirate of Sharjah