Sharjah: Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express plan to launch more flights between Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates third largest emirate, and second tier cities in India.
Air India Express launched three weekly flights to Varanasi in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh from Sharjah International Airport on Monday.
Melwin D’Silva, Air India Regional Manager for the Gulf, Middle East & Africa, told Gulf News that Air India will look at increasing Varanasi flights to daily services and launch flights to other Indian cities from Sharjah.
Air India operates around 60 flights a week from Sharjah to seven Indian cities. Varanasi is the airlines eighth destination from Sharjah.
D’Silva said the airline also wants add capacity on flights to Mumbai and Delhi and increase the number of destinations it serves from Dubai International next summer.
He did not provide further details. Air India currently flies daily direct to Mumbai and Delhi from Dubai.
Air India has made no decision on when it would shift over from Dubai International to the emirate’s newest airport and future hub Al Maktoum International at Dubai World Central (DWC).
D’Silva said the airline will wait to see what other carriers do and also wants there to be more infrastructure at the new airport before it moves over.
From October, flydubai will launch permanent services from DWC while also maintaining existing operations at Dubai International. Earlier this year, operator Dubai Airports announced DWC will be expanded to handle 26 million passengers by 2018, up from its current capacity of between 5 and 7 million passengers.
Air India is also “exploring possibilities” to relaunch flights to Iran after pulling out in the past decade due to sanctions. D’Silva said the airline is looking at launching full service Air India and no-frills Air India Express flights to the country.
