Dubai: Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, yesterday launched flights between Abu Dhabi and Ahmedabad, India’s fifth largest city and former capital of the Indian state of Gujarat.

With the addition of Ahmedabad, Etihad Airways now flies to nine Indian destinations including the cities of New Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kochi with a total of 59 flights to India per week.

Etihad Airways’ President and Chief Executive Officer, James Hogan, said: “Etihad Airways is committed to serving the Indian market and people, whether in India or the diaspora. We are delighted to launch this new service and are committed to serving our customers in Guajarat.

“Our daily, two-class A320 service to Ahmedabad is another step in expanding our presence on the Indian Subcontinent and connecting key strategic cities with Abu Dhabi.

“We are confident that the addition of the Ahmedabad service will further strengthen commercial and cultural ties between India and the UAE and will lead to continued strong growth in traffic flows between India, Abu Dhabi and beyond.”