Low Cost Middle East Airlines
Despite the connotations, Jazeera Airlines are very, very good. Owned by the Kuwait Government, they have money and it shows. Great aircraft, excellent staff. Aleppo, Lebanon, Egypt, Iran (Tehran, Mashad adn Shiraz), Bahrain, Dubai, Muscat and Salalah. Kuwait based (obviously) and a very useful airline to keep at the back of the mind when in this neck of the woods.
Only for internal flights in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Nas Air provide internal connections between Riyadh, Jeddah, Madinah, Gizan and Gurayat. Although limited in scope, they have new aircraft and an efficient website booking system.
Sama Airlines - As above, that is, only for internal flights in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - same destinations though also include Dammam.
Air Arabia is one of the fastest growing and largest of the Emirate states' low cost airlines. They are based in Sharjah and have a (very) extensive route network which includes India, Pakistan, the Gulf and North Africa. As I have found this airline very useful for this region, the full list of destinations and a (rather small) map is shown below.
Ahmedabad (India), Aleppo (Syria), Alexandria (Egypt), Almaty (Kazakhstan), Amman (Jordan), Assiut (Egypt) Astana Kazakhstan) Bahrain Beirut (Lebanon) Chennai (India) Colombo (Sri Lanka) Damascus (Syria) Dammam (Saudi Arabia) Doha (Qatar) Istanbul (Turkey) Jaipur (India) Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) Kabul (Afghanistan) Karachi (Pakistan) Kathmandu (Nepal)Khartoum (Sudan) Kochi (India) Kuwait Latakia (Syria) Luxor (Egypt) Mumbai (India) Nagpur (India) Peshawar (Pakistan) Muscat (Oman) Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) Sana'a (Yemen) Sharjah (U.A.E) Tehran (Iran) Thiruvananthapuram (India) Yerevan (Armenia)
Jet4you is based in Morocco and connects within Morocco as well as to France, specifically: Lyons, Mraseilles, Paris (Orly) and Chaleroi aka Brussels. Of limited use, therefore. Losely connected to our Thomson Holidays. The website is in French, by the way.
Atlas Blue is another "me too" airline, this time of Royal Air Maroc. They fly from the Maroccan airports of Marrakech, Agadir, Tangier, Al Hoceima, Oujda and Nador to mainly European detsinations, including Gatwick. The airline keeps its feet in both camps as it is represented on the major airline booking systems as well as the internet.
Air Blue - Pakistan internal low cost airline. Not before time given the pisspoor state of PIA. Clear, easy to use website - which works. They fly modern Airbus - nearly new - aircraft
Airblue currently offers affordable travel to the following locations within Pakistan: Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Faisalabad and Gawadar. International routes are Karachi-Dubai, Islamabad-Dubai, Lahore-Dubai and Peshawar-Dubai
Aero Asia claim to be a lot more than they really are. Presently conects in Pakistan: Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore and "internationally" the above with Dubai and Muscat. Claim to be flying soon to Manchester and, somewhat paradoxically, Nottingham in the UK. Airblue (above) is better. Wait and see with this one.
Corendon Quasi-Charter Turkish airline that connect to the top left hand corner of Europe, but not the UK. Connections to Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Rotterdam, Brussels and Dusseldorf. Painfully slow website. They also operate a number of hotels and have car rental interests. As said, quasi-charter/ holiday flights. That said, has been useful in the past.
Pegasus Turkish airline with comprehensive connections internally within Turkey and internationally fly to most airports in Germany as well as Copenhagen, Vienna and London Stansted.
