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Dubai emerges Air India's key overseas destination

MUMBAI — Dubai has emerged as one of the most important overseas destinations for Air India, which now operates 46 flights a week to the emirate from a dozen cities across India.

"No other city abroad on our network has flights from so many Indian cities," Jitender Bhargava, executive director, corporate communications, Air India, said here yesterday. The airline launched direct flights from Lucknow and Jaipur to Dubai last week, taking the total number of Indian cities — from where it operates flights to the emirate — to 12. Air India, the new merged entity following the merger of two state-owned airlines, Air India and Indian, has been enhancing operations to Dubai following the surge in demand for seats. The flights are operated by its low-cost budget subsidiary, Air India Express.

According to Bhargava, the airline launched direct flights from the two north Indian cities to Dubai in its new winter schedule on a thrice-weekly basis. The airline introduced flights from other cities in India to Dubai on a similar basis, gradually increasing it to five-weekly flights, and then making them daily flights. The Lucknow-Dubai flights are operated on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and the Jaipur-Dubai flights on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays (with the flights returning to the Indian cities on the following days).

According to Bhargava, the airline plans to promote Jaipur as an attractive weekend getaway, both among expatriates and Arab nationals in the UAE. Tourists can take the flight to the Rajasthan capital, spend a day or two there, and then cover the other two components of the Golden Triangle — Delhi and Agra.