Air Arabia has announced the resumption of direct flights to Qatar, becoming the first UAE-based carrier to do so following the reopening of airspace and restoration of ties after three and a half years.

The airline will operate a daily flight between Sharjah and Doha from January 18, it said in a post on Twitter on Thursday.

According to information available on the Air Arabia website, flight G9134 is scheduled to depart Sharjah at 4.10pm (UAE time) and reach Doha at 4.10pm (Qatar time). Then, flight G9135 will leave Doha at 5.10pm and arrive in Sharjah at 7.10pm.

Qatar Airways had on Wednesday announced that it would resume flights to Egypt, starting with services to Cairo on January 18 followed by Alexandria on January 25.

The national carrier will start with a daily service to Cairo and twice-weekly flights to Alexandria, according to a tweet.

Qatar Airways had earlier resumed flights to Saudi Arabia, with the first Saudi Airlines flight also arriving in Doha recently since the reopening of borders and lifting of the airspace ban.

News agency Reuters reported that Egyptair has also announced plans to resume daily flights to Doha and said it could add a second daily service if there was sufficient demand.

Bahrain had also recently lifted the airspace ban on Qatar.