Hyderabad has got a new direct daily flight to Kuwait with an airline originating from the Gulf country, ‘Jazeera Airways’, beginning operations on Friday here. The low-cost airline currently flies to 20 destinations across the Middle East, Europe and India with a flight of eight Airbus A320 aircraft. “We are delighted to start with Hyderabad. We will be getting two more new planes in the next few months, one by February 2018 and another in May. India will play a big role in our profile and we are planning flights to Mumbai (daily), Ahmedabad (four times a week) and Kochi (thrice a week). We will be adding two more aircraft by 2020,” said chief executive officer Rohit Ramachandran.
At a press conference, he pointed out that the new service would give more choices to the travellers connecting them to Kuwait, Riyadh, Jeddah, Bahrain and Dubai. Besides, those wanting to go on religious tours can now connect to Najaf (Iraq), Mashad (Iran) and Amman for the Holy land.
“There are a lot of interesting places for the Indian traveller to visit at a fairly affordable price like in Jordan and Egypt,” he said. The Jazeera Airways is keen on flying to lot more parts to India, but wanted the bilateral treaty between both the countries of having 12,000 seats to be enhanced since the CEO feels the potential is at least 20,000 seats.
“We are in talks with the stakeholders like the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Indian Government as well as Kuwait for revising the seat-sharing treaty. We will also have a dedicated terminal at Kuwait international airport next year,” said Mr. Ramachandran.
GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL) CEO S.G.K. Kishore, while welcoming the airways, observed that it would boost the tourism potential in India and various destinations in the Middle East. “It is the best place to serve as a gateway to south and central India. Negotiations are under way to attract more airlines from Europe to begin services,” he said.
The Hyderabad airport has recorded a 56% growth in domestic transfer passenger in financial year 2017 and 2016. Nine domestic carriers connect with 39 destinations within the country and 17 international destinations with 17 foreign plus three Indian carriers.
