Jet starts daily flights to Kuwait, Bahrain

Jet Airways today become India's first private airlines to begin services to the Gulf with the launch of its direct daily flight to Kuwait and Bahrain.

The Gulf sector was, till date, served only by the national carriers - the erstwhile Air India, Indian and Air India Express. The national carriers were so far competing with Gulf-based airlines like Emirates, Kuwait Airways, Gulf Air and Qatar Airlines.

Jet's flight (9W 572), carrying 69 passengers, left for Kuwait from Indira Gandhi International Airport this morning after being flagged off by Director General of Civil Aviation Kanu Gohain.

"Keeping in mind the unmet demand of more flight in the Gulf sector, we have introduced our world-class services for the passengers going to these countries," P K Sinha, vice president, international relations and industry affairs, Jet Airways, said today.

The services will be on par with Jet's premier services for western destinations, he added.

Speaking about the expansion plans of the airlines, Sinha said: "Jet is going to launch two new flights to Mascut and Doha (Qatar) from Calicut from January 23.

"Gulf is now growing as a tourist destination. As more and more Indians are preferring to go to these countries for holidays, there is huge demand for better connectivity."

The airline today also launched three other daily direct flights - Kochi-Kuwait, Kochi-Baharain and Mumbai-Kuwait.