Indian carriers to add extra flights to Gulf states

Air India is set to increase its services to the Gulf region with extra flights planned to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. In an announcement by India's Ministry of Civil Aviation, Air India and Air India Express will increase its services from 430 per week to 471 per week for the summer schedule which starts on March 25. These services will include increase from 94 to 109 on their Dubai routes, from 39 to 47 to Abu Dhabi, from 33 to 49 to Sharjah sector, from 12 to 21 services to Doha and from 42 to 48 services to Saudi Arabia. The services of Air India and Air India Express will further increase to 577 in winter 2012, the statement added. A new route to Visakhapatnam is being added on the existing Hyderabad to Dubai service. Air India is also introducing a direct link between Delhi and Bahrain and increasing frequency of operation between Delhi and Riyadh from two to four flights per week. Air India will also launch two additional flights per week on the Thiruvananthapuram – Kochi - Dammam and Kozhikode to Dammam routes. The airline will also operate four flights per week between Delhi and Sharjah via Amritsar and three times per week via Lucknow.