GoAir to connect Mumbai to Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Bangkok

To add seven new international routes from July 19

GoAir on Sunday announced that it was scaling up its international operations by adding seven new routes from July 19.

The airline, which currently operates services to Abu Dhabi, Male and Phuket, will now also fly to Bangkok, Dubai and Kuwait. The new routes announced are Mumbai/Delhi-Abu Dhabi, Mumbai/Delhi-Muscat, Delhi/Mumbai-Bangkok and Kannur-Dubai/Kuwait.

Of the seven new international routes announced, Bangkok, Dubai and Kuwait are new ‘markets’ for GoAir, whereas the other routes are already on the airline’s network albeit from different cities in India. The airline already flies to Abu Dhabi and Muscat from Kannur, and to Phuket and Maldives (currently on hold) from Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai.

A GoAir spokesperson said the airline has flown over 72 million passengers since its inception, and in the next two years the airline would touch the 100-million passenger mark.

“I am very pleased to announce these planned launches which will strengthen GoAir’s presence in the Middle East and South East Asian countries. The network expansion is in sync with our vision to expand out footprint in strategic markets and to grow our business profitably,” Jeh Wadia, managing director, GoAir, said.

The announcement comes at a time when full-service carrier Jet Airways has suspended its operations, leading to additional demand for flights in the country’s civil aviation market.

SpiceJet, too, had recently announced eight direct daily overseas flights from Mumbai and Delhi. The new flights will be operational on Mumbai-Riyadh-Mumbai, Mumbai-Dhaka-Mumbai, Delhi-Dhaka-Delhi and Delhi-Jeddah-Delhi routes. The flights to Dhaka and Jeddah are effective from the last week of July while the flight to Riyadh will start on August 15.

SpiceJet, which currently operates a daily non-stop Mumbai-Dubai flight, will introduce a second flight on the route from August 3. The new flight will depart from Mumbai at 9.05 a.m. and land in Dubai at 11.10 a.m. On the return, the flight will depart from Dubai at 12.10 p.m. and land in Mumbai at 5.05 p.m.

“The enhanced connectivity to Dubai will give passengers travelling between the two cities more convenience and flexibility,” SpiceJet chairman Ajay Singh said. The airline, which is launching a Mumbai-Hong Kong flight from July 31, has also announced plans to connect Mumbai with international destinations like Colombo and Kathmandu.