Sharjah will be menaJet's hub

A no-frills airline, to be called menaJet and based in the United Arab Emirates, will launch in December with hopes to cash in on the boom in inter-Arab travel.

The carrier will be based in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates and use two 162-seater Airbus A320s to fly on routes in the Middle East and North Africa.

"We will be duplicating some routes and opening some new routes as well," general manager Mazen Hajjar told AFP adding the exact network was not yet finalised.

The airline is taking advantage of the boom in Middle Eastern travel since the 11 September attack on the US, as travellers try to avoid anti-Arab sentiment and transit restrictions in the West.

Recent data for 2002 from the Airports Council International showed a 3% fall in the Northern American market and flat passenger numbers in Europe while Middle Eastern travel grew by 5%.

No-frills travel

On Wednesday, the troubled regional carrier Gulf Air announced it would launch its all-economy, full service Gulf Traveller on 1 June.

Gulf Traveller will be based in Abu Dhabi and fly six Boeing 767-300s.

It will serve a number of Gulf Air's Middle Eastern routes and act as a cheap carrier for expatriate workers from Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Zanzibar.

MenaJet will not offer free in-flight meals or entertainment and hopes people will book tickets online to keep costs down.

MenaJet is privately owned by the Al-Zamil Group of Saudi Arabia and Gulf Finance House of Bahrain.