Air India Express to fly Dubai-Srinagar weekly

Dubai: Air India Express, India's budget carrier, added Jammu and Kashmir's capital Srinagar - one of the major tourism destinations in India - to its list of growing destinations from Dubai International Airport, with an introductory fare of Dh99.

Effective February 14, Air India Express will start non stop flights from Srinagar to Dubai, once a week on Saturdays.

Srinagar will be the 12th destination from Dubai.

The flight will depart from Dubai at 08.35 and arrive in Srinagar at 13.20. On the return, it will depart from Srinagar at 14.20 and arrive in Dubai at 16.50.

"We are pleased to announce an introductory fare starting from Dh99 plus taxes onwards [one-way] - Dubai to Srinagar," a spokesperson said in a statement.

Air India Express is a wholly owned subsidiary of Air India - the country's flag carrier. It commenced operations on 29th April 2005, and is now into its fourth year of operations. Commencing operations with three leased aircraft, the Air India Express fleet presently consists of 20 next generation Boeing 737-800 aircraft which are one of the most technologically advanced single-aisle jet aircraft. By the end of 2009, it will have 25 aircraft in its fleet.

Air India Express fleet has a single, economy class configuration. Besides lower fares, an important feature of Air India Express is the Internet based reservations system. This system is very customer-friendly and passengers can make reservations from home, offices or through appointed travel agents.

Passengers have access to fares and availability of seats, which makes it an extremely transparent system.