Standardisation of flight timings, increase in seats to Sharjah and new flights to Dubai, Abudhabi and Muscat are the highlights of Air India’s winter schedule that comes into effect from October 26.
Air India Express, the no-frills airline of the national carrier, will be operating daily flights from Thiruvananthapuram to Abudhabi and to Dubai on all days except Tuesday to Muscat.
With the introduction of three more international flights, the total number of Air India Express flights from Thiruvananthapuram international airport to the Gulf will go up to 27 a week.
The standardisation of timings of Air India and Air India Express flights from here is another key feature of the winter schedule. The flights from Thiruvananthapuram international airport to Abudabhi will be at 7.15 p.m., Dubai 7 p.m., Sharjah 9 a.m. and 8.30 p.m. and to Muscat at 11.40 a.m. on the days of operation.
Air India’s Thiruvananthapuram-Riyadh flight (AI 923) on Wednesdays and AI 929 on Fridays will depart at 10.20 a.m. instead of 12.50 p.m. The two flights will be operated by the national carrier with the new B 777-200 ER aircraft that can carry 292 passengers.
The IC 967 flight now operating as Chennai-Trichy-Thiruvananthapuram-Sharjah-Thiruvananthapuram-Trichy-Chennai will be operating directly from Thiruvananthapuram international airport to Sharjah in the new schedule. The flight will depart from here at 8.30 p.m. and will arrive here at 5.30 a.m.
The A-320 aircraft will be stationed here and this will be deployed for flight operations to Bangalore and Chennai. Already, the airline has stationed another A-320 deployed for flight operations to Delhi in Thiruvananthapuram international airport.
Airline sources said the change in routing of the IC 967 flight to Sharjah will result in more seats for those proceeding from Thiruvananthapuram to Sharjah. This will result in nearly 400 additional seats in Thiruvananthapuram-Sharjah sector a week.
In the domestic sector, the IC 909 flight from Thiruvananthapuram to Bangalore via Chennai will depart at 6.30 a.m. instead of 6 a.m. The IC 911flight from here to Chennai via Bangalore will depart at 2.45 p.m. instead of 4.20 p.m.
