Salil Nath, head of Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways’ India operations, said the airline plans to expand its presence in the country by launching new flights and increasing the frequency of existing ones, the Financial Express reported. Indian business.
The airline’s expansion plans are based on the weekly allocation of unused seats to and from India as stipulated in the bilateral air services agreement.
The airline still has 10,000 unused seats each week because it only operates 40,000 of its 50,000 assigned seats. said Ness.
Currently, the joint venture between Etihad Airways and Abu Dhabi Air Arabia operates 165 weekly flights to 10 gateways across India.
Through the joint venture, the airline operates flights to Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Cochin, Kolkata, Kozhikode and Trivandrum.
Nath said the airline will increase the number of its network in India by 54% by 2023. “Compared to 2022, our network connections have increased from 77 flights per week to 118 for Etihad Airways and 165 for Air Arabia Abu Dhabi IV.” Most recently, the airline resumed flights to Kolkata , and enhanced its network by adding flights to Ahmedabad, Chennai and Cochin.
“We have added additional flights to Delhi (three times a day) and Mumbai (three times a day), and are enhancing our global connectivity with additional flights to the US,” Nate said.
He attributed the growth to high demand in the Indian outbound travel market. “Demand is strong and our business is growing significantly. Indian tourists are increasingly interested in luxury experiences and exploring new cultures beyond the metro.”
