Etihad to start twice-daily flights to Bangalore, Chennai

Mumbai, July 2 (IANS) Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways said Wednesday it has begun twice-daily flights to Bangalore, Chennai and Kozhikode due to the strong summer demand.

"As one of the largest, fastest-growing travel markets in the world, India continues to play an important role in our growth plans," said James Hogan, president and chief executive Etihad Airways.

"Subject to regulatory approvals, we will continue to expand our India operations and work with Jet Airways to accommodate strong growth and deliver much greater choice for travel to and from India."

Last year more than 885,000 people flew on the airline's India-based services, an increase of 20 percent on the previous year.

According to the company, which is aggresively expanding its base in India, it will start twice-daily operations to Hyderabad from October 1.

Twice-daily frequencies were introduced to Kochi last month, as well as Mumbai and New Delhi in November 2013.

In addition to the seven existing or planned twice-daily services, Etihad Airways operates daily to Ahmedabad, Trivandrum and most recently, Jaipur, where flights commenced in April 2014.

Last month, Etihad Airways expanded its codeshare agreement with Jet Airways on 43 additional routes, bringing the total number of services in their codeshare agreement to 71.

Last year the Abu Dhabi-based airlines became the first foreign passenger carrier to invest in the Indian domestic airways. It bought a 24 percent stake in Jet Airways for Rs.2,069 crore ($380 million).

"This codeshare expansion was a milestone development for both airlines. The agreement now incorporates more services between Abu Dhabi and India than ever before, benefitting travellers," Hogan said.

The airline added that it will utilise new Airbus A320s. It has also been using larger wide-body aircraft on select routes since November 2013 on Airbus A330s.