RAK Airways was an

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

based in

Ras Al Khaimah Ras Al Khaimah (; ), often referred to its initials RAK, is the largest city and capital of the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah in the U.A.E. The city had a population of 191,753 in 2025, and is the sixth-most populous city in UAE after Dubai, Abu ...

, one of the seven emirates in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

.RAK Airways ready to fly into India
''

Business Standard ''Business Standard'' is an Indian English-language daily edition newspaper published by Business Standard Private Limited, also available in Hindi. Founded in 1975, the newspaper covers the Indian economy, infrastructure, international busi ...

'', P R Sanjai, 2 October 2006. It was established in 2006 but briefly ceased operations in 2009 and relaunched in 2010 with a new livery and under new management. On 1 January 2014, the airline suspended all its flights but announced that they may resume at a future date after a restructuring process.

History

First news about a new airline based in

emerged in 2005 and it was initially called Al Hamra Airlines. UAE Cabinet has later issued its official approval for setting up the RAK Airways as a national carrier in its decision No. 328/4 for 2005. The new airways launched operations in early 2007. The carrier was affected by the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

and ceased operations in 2009. In 2010 the airline announced that it would be resuming operations with a New "value-for-money" business model, aiming to position itself between full-service and

low-cost carrier A low-cost carrier (LCC) or low-cost airline, also called a budget, or discount carrier or airline, is an airline that is operated with an emphasis on minimizing operating costs. It sacrifices certain traditional airline luxuries for cheaper fa ...

s. In February 2011, it was revealed that RAK Airways was planning on launching flights to between five and nine new destinations. Though it acknowledged the difficulty of securing slots at several of the destinations due to rival carriers in the UAE, it announced that it was finalizing a

codeshare agreement A codeshare agreement, also known simply as codeshare, is a business arrangement, common in the aviation industry, in which two or more airlines publish and market the same flight under their own airline designator and flight number (the "airli ...

with an Asian carrier and that it would also be increasing the size of its fleet. In 2013, RAK Airways launched flights to

Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

; and

Amman Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

. RAK Airways announced the immediate suspension of all operations on 1 January 2014, citing economic considerations.timesofoman.com - RAK Airways suspends operations
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Destinations

In December 2013, RAK Airways served the following destinations:

Bus operations

RAK Airways also operated bus services from Ras Al Khaimah to other UAE destinations like

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

Al Ain Al Ain () is a city in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and the seat of the administrative division of the Al Ain Region. The city is Oman–United Arab Emirates border, bordered to the east by the Omani town of Al-Buraimi. Al A ...

Ajman Ajman ( '; Gulf Arabic: عيمان ''ʿYmān'') is the capital of the emirate of Ajman in the United Arab Emirates. It is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, fifth-largest city in UAE after Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Al Ain. Loca ...

Fujairah Fujairah City () is the capital of the emirate of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. It is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, seventh-largest city in UAE, located on the Gulf of Oman (part of the Indian Ocean). It is the only Em ...

Sharjah Sharjah (; ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It is the capital of the Emirate of Sharjah and forms part of the D ...

Umm Al Quwain Umm Al Quwain (UAQ; Arabic: أم القيوين, pronounced: /ʔumː alqejˈwejn/, Gulf Arabic: �ʊm͜ː 'æl ge̞ˈwe̞n) is the capital and largest city of the Emirate of Umm Al Quwain in the United Arab Emirates. The city is situated on t ...

, and

Khor Fakkan Khor Fakkan () is a city and an exclave of the Emirate of Sharjah, located on the east coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), facing the Gulf of Oman, and geographically surrounded by the Emirate of Fujairah. The city, the second largest on ...

Fleet

As of August 2013, the RAK Airways fleet consisted of the following aircraft and had pending orders for

Boeing 737 Next Generation The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as 737NG, or 737 Next Gen, is a twinjet, twin-engine narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Launched in 1993 as the third-generation derivative of the Boeing 737, it ha ...

:RAK Airways Fleet
/ref>

References

External links

rakairways.com
(last official record on archive.org). No longer an official website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rak Airways Defunct airlines of the United Arab Emirates Airlines established in 2006 Airlines disestablished in 2014 2014 disestablishments in the United Arab Emirates Emirati companies established in 2006