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Etihad will fly to two more Indian cities from August
Etihad Airways will launch daily flights from Abu Dhabi to the Indian cities of Kozhikode and Chennai on August 1
- Staff Report
- Published: 00:38 May 16, 2008
Dubai: Etihad Airways will launch daily flights from Abu Dhabi to the Indian cities of Kozhikode and Chennai on August 1.
The coastal city of Kozhikode will be Etihad's third destination in Kerala, to add to its highly successful flights to Kochi and state capital Thiruvananthapuram.
The addition of the two new cities brings the number of Indian destinations served by Etihad to six and follows successful bilateral talks between the governments of the UAE and India, aimed at further liberalising flying links between the two countries.
These talks also saw Etihad awarded traffic rights to two further cities in India, Kolkata and Jaipur. The airline is finalising the launch dates for these additional destinations.
James Hogan, Etihad Airways' chief executive, said: "Etihad has made no secret of the fact that it wants to build up its Indian services and looks forward to expand its flying programme to the country with the launch of these two exciting new destinations.
"The governments of the UAE and India, and particularly the Department of Transport of Abu Dhabi, deserve great credit for further opening up air links between these two emerging nations and allowing Etihad to grow its services to these developing cities in India."
Etihad currently operates 28 flights a week from the UAE to India, with flights from Abu Dhabi to Mumbai, New Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi.
The airline is pushing to secure further traffic rights from Abu Dhabi to Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
Etihad will operate a two class Airbus A320 on both the Kozhikode and Chennai routes configured to carry 140 passengers with 20 in business class and 120 in economy class.
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