Jet Airways to start Abu Dhabi services

Jet Airways to start Abu Dhabi services
By Shakir Husain, Staff Reporter GULF NEWS Published: April 04, 2008, 18:23

Dubai: India's Jet Airways said on Friday it will start daily services between Abu Dhabi and the Indian cities of Mumbai and Delhi from April 23 to serve the growing business and holiday traffic on these sectors.

The airline will use the Boeing 737-800 on the routes, offering 126 economy class seats and 24 seats in the business class.

Shakir Kantawala, Jet Airways' regional manager for sales and marketing, said the airline hopes to start Dubai operations later in the year.

At present it has eight daily flights between India and the Gulf. The number will increase to 12 flights per day when the Abu Dhabi services starts.

One daily Doha-Kochin flight will begin on April 18 and a daily service between Muscat and Mumbai is scheduled to start from April 21. "We expect to start flying to Dubai in the middle of this year subject to receiving approval from India's civil aviation authorities," Kantawala told Gulf News.

The Abu Dhabi services are targeted at both leisure and corporate travellers.

"There is a huge section of Indian expatriates who often fly to India before going to other international destinations and we will be targeting them for our overseas services," Kant-awala said.

"Our flights from Abu Dhabi to Mumbai and Delhi will arrive early morning to connect to our vast domestic network within India. Our extensive domestic network will provide flight options to most of our 45 destinations within India," Kantawala said.

The airline will be starting flights from India to Hong Kong on April 14, and from Mumbai to San Francisco via Shanghai May 5.

Jet Airways is India's largest private sector aviation company.

The carrier intends to increase its international service with flights to Europe, North America, Africa and Asia in the coming years.

It recently bought its private sector rival Saraha Airline recently.