Etihad doubles India city services

Etihad Airways has doubled its services to a number of Indian cities.

The Gulf carrier launched twice-daily flights to Bangalore, Chennai and Kozhikode on July 1, and double-daily flights to Hyderabad will follow from October 1.

This follows the introduction of twice-daily frequencies to Kochi last month, as well as Mumbai and New Delhi last year (see news, September 2013).

Etihad said the route upgrades are helping to support its long-term development plans in Asia.

James Hogan, the airline's president and CEO, said: "As one of the largest, fastest-growing and most exciting travel markets in the world, India continues to play an important role in our growth plans.

"Last year alone, more than 885,000 people flew on our Indian services, a substantial increase of 20 per cent on the previous year."

Etihad Airways further cemented its share of the Indian market by expanding its codeshare agreement with Indian carrier Jet Airways, of which it owns a 24 per cent stake (see news, November 2013).

Last month, the two airlines obtained regulatory approval to codeshare on 43 additional routes, bringing the total number of services in their partnership to 71.

Etihad summer 2014 schedules (effective from July 1):

* Flights EY0276 and EY0277 will commence from October 1

etihad.com

Clement Huang