RAK Airways eyes the sky

RAK Airways, a national airline of the United Arab Emirates operating from Ras Al Khaimah, evinced interest in operating more flights to Kerala. Omar Jahameh, the CEO of Rak Airways headed a delegation from the Northern Emirate which put forward a wide range of fundamental reasons for increased flights. Jahameh says the initial meetings with Kerala\'s Chief Minister and other Government officials were very productive and there were discussions about services to Kochi at the earliest. \"The airline\'s top officials met Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and sought support to get the clearance from the Central Government to operate into Kochi and the international airport here,\" E.M. Najeeb, whose travel agency handles RAK ticketing in the state, said. Currently, RAK operates seven flights a week into Kozhikode international airport in Kerala. \"RAK officials have told Chandy that in lieu of operating into the two other state airports, they have offered any number of flights of the national carrier Air India to operate into the RAK international airport,\" Najeeb added. S.A Saleem, President of Indian Association in Ras Al Khaimah, pointed out that around 450,000 Indians reside in the catchment area of the emirate who have no choice but to travel to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah airports. \"The Chief Minister has assured us that he will personally take up the issue with the central government when he is in Delhi later this month,\" Najeeb said. RAK Airways due to the heavy demand, has increased the the frequency of flights to Calicut to five flights a week from its initial three, which shows the airways potential to attract Indian visitors. The airways has witnessed fast-growing demand for flights from all sectors of the UAE community locally and beyond the borders of Ras Al Khaimah. As a consequence it has recently grown its route network to six destinations which include: Calicut, Jeddah, Cairo, Dhaka, Doha and Chittagong