Dubai-based carrier 'flydubai' doubles its network in India

The carrier will operate four weekly flights to Delhi and three weekly flights to both Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram

Budget airline 'flydubai' will begin flights to three Indian cities, including Delhi, from Dubai next week, doubling the number of its destinations in India.

The Dubai-based carrier will operate four weekly flights to Delhi from June 1 and three weekly flights to both Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram from June 2 and 3 respectively.

The new routes will bring the total number of Indian cities served by the carrier to six, including its existing routes Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Lucknow.

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank the authorities for granting us the approval to operate these flights between Dubai and India," said Ghaith Al Ghaith, the Chief Executive Officer of flydubai.

"The two nations share a lot of historic and cultural ties and the new flights will increase the trade and tourism potential while enabling the Indian expatriate community in the UAE to travel home to visit friends and family more often," he said.

Flydubai has seen strong demand for its flights since the start of its operations to India in 2010.

The carrier was set up by the Dubai Government to offer passengers services and create free flows of trade and tourism in previously underserved markets.

"These new flights will give passengers from different regions in India direct links to Dubai, enhancing flight connectivity beyond the city to GCC countries and to destinations in Africa, Central Asia, Russia and Europe, most of which have no or very few direct links to India," said Sudhir Sreedharan, Senior Vice President Commercial (GCC, Subcontinent, Africa) flydubai.

The airline operates a fleet of 36 Boeing 737-800 aircraft and has a network of 74 destinations, 48 of which were underserved markets.