UAE’s Fujairah International Airport – which is about an hour’s drive away from the city of Dubai – could soon start daily flights from India, a senior airport official has told the Khaleej Times.

Mark Govender, the business development manager at FIA told the publication at an event in Dubai that the airport is awaiting ‘some documentation’, and the service to Fujairah could start ‘as early as this year’. Al Fujayrah – or Fujairah – is one of the seven emirates that make up UAE and the only one located in the east along the Persian Gulf. It is home to some of the most beautiful beaches in UAE.

Govender told Khaleej Times that the airport handles over two million passengers a year and can daily service at least 20 flights because of the parallel runway. “A passenger at the Fujairah airport can land, finish immigration, collect his baggage and be out of the airport in less than 15 minutes,” he added.

Dubai has been a popular international destination for Indian travellers, even featuring as the top choice in a survey by travel platform Agoda last year. Earlier this year, Dubai had introduced a five-year multiple-entry visa for Indian travellers. This visa allows the holder to stay in UAE for up to 90 days and can be extended once, for a similar period, in one year.

The Emirates Airlines recently collaborated with VFS Global to launch a pre-approved visa-on-arrival service for select Indian passport holders who fly to UAE with the airline.

India has emerged at the top spot for the highest number of passengers flying through the Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel, with traffic totalling 11.9 million guests, the airport said.