Etihad to fly third daily services to Mumbai and New Delhi

Etihad Airways will add a third daily service to both Mumbai and New Delhi next year.

The Gulf airline will commence the new flights to Mumbai on February 15 and to New Delhi on May 1.

Both additional services will be operated by A320s in a two-class configuration with 16 seats in business and 120 in economy.

James Hogan, Etihad's president and chief executive, said: "India is expected to become the world's third largest air passenger market within the next 20 years, and we are focused on providing travellers with the best possible offering into and out of the country, in terms of world-class service, extensive network coverage and multiple flight options each day.

"More than 620,000 passengers in the first half of this year have flown on our India services, a substantial increase of 51 percent year-on-year. The launch of the triple-daily service to the cities will allow us to meet growing market demand."

The Gulf carrier has already doubled its services to a number of India cities in July this year, including Kochi, Bangalore, Chennai, Kozhikode and Hyderabad (see news, July 2).

The schedules are as follows:

Abu Dhabi – Mumbai route, effective February 15

*The airline will operate its new B787-9 on Mumbai's evening services from January next year (see news, September 30).

Abu Dhabi – New Delhi route, effective May 1

etihad.com

Valerian Ho