Etihad, Jet boost UAE-India services
dubai — Etihad Airways and its strategic partner Jet Airways on Thursday unveiled plans to expand services between Abu Dhabi and India, with the launch of 28 additional frequencies and three new destinations to further strengthen their partnership in one of the world’s fastest growing aviation markets.
The Abu Dhabi-based carier said from early 2017, the two airlines will expand their services between the UAE and India to enhance connections between India and the rest of the world, through Etihad Airways’ convenient Abu Dhabi hub, and complement Jet Airways’ non-stop services to other cities.
Etihad Airways currently operates 175 weekly flights between Abu Dhabi and 11 Indian cities. Together, Etihad Airways and Jet Airways offer 252 weekly flights between Abu Dhabi and 15 cities across India. With the newly announced flights, the airlines’ cooperative services will cover 18 Indian cities with 280 flights each week.
Etihad Airways said in a statement that it would launch a fourth daily flight between Abu Dhabi and Kozhikode on March 26, 2017, capitalising on the strong traffic flows between the state of Kerala and the UAE, and beyond. The ad- ditional capacity will allow the partnership to better serve the important Southern India market.
Etihad Airways will also double its frequency between Abu Dhabi and Ahmedabad in the western state of Gujarat, from February 1, 2017 with the launch of a new daily service.
Recently, both airlines denied news reports questioning their three-year old tie-up as unfounded, and said both airlines continue to enjoy a strong, healthy relationship since the forging of the partnership three years ago. “Anything to the contrary is completely false, and reports of such are misguided and misinformed,” said a joint statement. Jet Airways also announced a number of changes to its operations between India and Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE. These include the launch of daily flights between Tiruchirappalli, in Tamil Nadu, and Abu Dhabi on 1 February 2017, offering travellers another option from southern India.
Jet Airways will also introduce daily services from Kannur, the fourth Kerala gateway to Abu Dhabi. It also plans daily services from the northern Indian city of Chandigarh to Abu Dhabi, which will benefit travellers to and from the state of Punjab. The two routes are due to begin in the second half of 2017, subject to the completion of operational readiness at these airports. From 15 January 2017, Jet Airways will introduce a second daily service between New Delhi and Abu Dhabi. With Etihad Airways already operating three flights a day between the two capital cities, the enhanced operation will give guests a wider choice of departure times.
In 2015, Etihad Airways and Jet Airways together carried a record 3.3 million passengers between Abu Dhabi and India – a 63 per cent increase over the 2 million passengers flown in 2014. The combined operation enjoys the biggest share of passenger traffic to and from India, one of the world’s biggest economies.
Etihad Airways said it contributed 717,966 guests to Jet Airways’ flights for the 12 months to August 2016, a 57 per cent increase on the same period last year while Jet Airways contributed 396,288 guests to Etihad Airways’ flights over the same period, a 33 per cent increase on the corresponding period last year.
James Hogan, Etihad Aviation Group President and Chief Executive Officer, said: “Today’s announcement reflects how we have been working together to enhance our services to give the travelling public more and better choices by using each other’s networks.”
— issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com