Jet announces additional flights to Gulf, Southeast Asia

Jet Airways has launched a major global expansion from this winter, announcing the addition of over a dozen flights to several destinations in the Gulf and Southeast Asia.

The private carrier today announced four daily flights from Kochi to Dubai, a second frequency between Mumbai and Doha, both from November five, and from Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram to Doha from December 1.

The premier airline, which has decided to do away with its all-economy flights, would deploy its next-generation Boeing 737-800 aircraft on these routes, offering business and economy classes.

Jet has also announced the launch of daily direct services from Ahmedabad, Goa, Lucknow and Pune to Abu Dhabi with one stop connections to Europe, North America and Africa from November 14.

Earlier this month, the carrier said it would start a daily flight between Delhi and Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam via Bangkok from November five and a new service from Mumbai to the Vietnamese city, making it Jet's 22nd global destination.

The airline also plans to introduce a third daily direct flight from Mumbai to Bangkok during the winter schedule, which would be an afternoon service.

This would make Jet the only Indian carrier to operate three flights a day from Mumbai to Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport. It would start a second direct service between Mumbai and Colombo from November 5, offering same day return especially for business travellers.

The new flights and additional frequencies on some routes would strengthen Jet's presence in the high demand routes, especially in the Gulf. With these new flights, Jet Airways would achieve the distinction of becoming India's first private airline to operate over 40 daily flights to multiple destinations in the Gulf, including Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dubai, Doha, Kuwait, Sharjah, Muscat, Jeddah, Dammam and Riyadh, making it the largest operator on the India-Gulf sector, an airline statement said.

"Introduction of these flights is an important landmark in the evolution and emergence of the airline as India's premier international airline, as we will now operate over 146 daily flights to key international destinations," Jet's Senior Vice-President (Commercial) Gaurang Shetty said in the statement.