Etihad to launch daily service from Jaipur in April

Buoyed by growing outbound traffic from India, Abu Dhabi carrier Etihad Airways today announced expansion of its network in the country, including launching a daily service from Jaipur in April next year.

With the new flights commencing from April 1, the total number of Indian cities served by Etihad would rise to 10. It already flies to Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kozhikode, Mumbai, New Delhi and Trivandrum, the airline said in a release here.

In addition to introducing new destinations in India, Etihad has been increasing frequency of its existing services, with "plans to more than triple the number of seats" on the Abu Dhabi-Mumbai and Abu Dhabi-Delhi routes.

The bilateral air traffic rights were enhanced from 13,600 seats per week to 50,000 earlier this year.

The airline also plans to codeshare progressively on a wide range of Jet's domestic flights, subject to regulatory approval, and by December end, increase the daily services to Mumbai and Delhi to double-dailies.

In a bid to utilise the enhanced bilateral air traffic rights, Etihad also plans to use wide-bodied Airbus aircraft on one of the dailies to Mumbai and Delhi flights. It also plans to upgrade daily Abu Dhabi-Chennai flights from 136-seat Airbus A-320s to 174-seater A-321s.

"India is one of the world's fastest-growing destinations and a key market in the growth strategy of Etihad Airways," Etihad President James Hogan said, adding that flyers from Jaipur would benefit from the airline's "seamless connections to the Gulf region and Middle East, as well as Africa, Europe and North America, via our Abu Dhabi hub".