V Thulasidas, Air India Chairman and Managing Director, has announced a bonanza package of 2,000 additional seats comprising seven additional flights from Kerala to destinations in the Gulf and Middle East.

Speaking in Kochi at a press conference at the Indian Association of Tour Operators conference, Thulasidas announced AI's decision to operate seven additional flights (both Air India and Air India Express on the Kerala-Gulf sector to clear the peak season rush during August-September.

Of the seven flights, four flights (Boeing 737-800s) will be operated on August 29, September 1, September 3 and September 5 on the Calicut-Trivandrum-Dubai sector. The other three flights (Boeing 747-400s) will operate on the Trivandrum-Dubai sector on August 31; the Calicut-Dubai sector on September 1, and the Trivandrum-Calicut-Riyadh sector on September 1.

Thulasidas also added, "There has been a great demand for AIE flights. The capacity utilisation of AIE on Trivandrum-Dubai, Trivandrum-Abu Dhabi and Trivandrum-Muscat sectors during May 10 to August 25 was 100 per cent. It was 99 per cent in Koz-Dubai and Koz-Abu Dhabi sectors. In the Cochin-Dubai and Cochin-Abu Dhabi capacity utilisation stood at 100% and 99%, respectively. AIE flights to Muscat from Cochin and Kozhikode had capacity utilization of 94% and 95%, respectively. Air India Express had kept its promise of offering tickets at 20% to 25% less than the market rates."