Fujairah carves out a new future for tourism

Huge Japanese-built wheeled loaders rumble across the broken rock and gravel cut from the mighty Hajar mountains that, in years past, kept the tiny emirate of Fujairah cut off from the deserts of Sharjah and Dubai.

The land is lush with higher-than-average rainfall and cooling breezes from the nearby Indian Ocean.

The mountains have proved a valuable source of aggregate for the rapid construction projects across the UAE. On the highway between Sharjah and Fujairah City itself there is a constant stream of giant trucks coming to collect their loads.

But carving its way through the mountain is a new road that will link Fujairah with the eight-lane highways to Sharjah and Dubai and which holds the key in creating a genuine secondary airport that could change the way low-cost carriers, charter operators and even canny legacy airlines view their access to the UAE.

Fujairah Airport is a surprise.

It is small, but it has big ambitions.

Working along the principle of ‘Build it and they will come’, the team at Fujairah International Airport (FIA) have been quietly developing and improving the airport to the highest standards.

“Once the new road is built we will be less than 100 kilometres or 45 minutes from Dubai by road,” said Charles Hajdu, the airport’s strategy and business development manager. “As Dubai International becomes more congested, and Sharjah gets busier, we have a real alternative here.”

The airport’s general manager, Dr Khaled Almazroui, said the vision for the airport was to support the development of the emirate and it is already achieving that with a marked increase in the number of cargo movements from the airport and the start of passenger flights – primarily charter from the former Soviet Union.

Tourism is increasing as more and more people find the attractions of the beautiful coastline with reefs for diving, fishing and beaches close by to the airport. Already there are dozens of famous brand hotels taking their place along the Indian Ocean seafront. Six Senses, le Meridien, Rotana, Hilton and JAL all have resorts with many more being built.

Visitors already find a gleaming, modern passenger terminal with a spacious departure lounge and high-quality duty free shops. A business class lounge is near completion and airline offices are being made ready for the growth.

Another great selling point for the airport is the weather.

“We are recognised as the airport of choice for airlines when they have to make a diversion because of fog or bad weather in places like Dubai or Sharjah,” said Almazroui. “We have a microclimate here with much clearer days. We never suffer from fog or low-visibility conditions. We also have uncongested airspace.”

Fujairah’s Civil Aviation Authority is part of the Open Skies agreement and Hajdu believes that, once the road is open, more and more airlines will see the advantage of using Fujairah.

With a 3,750metre runway and ILS and VOR approaches, FIA can take aircraft the size of a B747 or an Antonov 124. That has already caught the attention of the cargo operators.

Businesses are thriving around the airfield. New MRO facilities are being built with Europe Aviation, a flight academy sees a steady stream of Diamond aircraft taking to the skies while, across the runway from the terminal, there are facilities for long-term aircraft parking as well as dismantling.

Fujairah is very firmly staking its claim on the global aviation map.