India's Jet Airways set to boost two Dubai routes

Indian carrier Jet Airways has announced that it will add flights to Dubai from two Indian cities from next month.

It will start flying six times a week to Dubai from Mangalore from January 3 and will introduce a second service between Delhi and Dubai from January 18.

Jet Airways said in a statement that it will deploy a Boeing 737-800 aircraft with 170 Economy seats on both routes.

Jet Airways, a possible target for Abu Dhabi airline Etihad Airways, currently operates daily direct flights to Dubai from Delhi, and four services a day from Mumbai.

Sudheer Raghavan, chief commercial officer, Jet Airways, said: “Jet Airways' new Mangalore-Dubai service will provide a much-needed link between the chief port city of Karnataka and Dubai, catering to the large number of Indians settled in the UAE.

"The introduction of this new service, the first from a Tier II Indian destination to the Gulf, will further strengthen Jet Airways' presence in the Gulf, where it has emerged as one of the leading carriers.”

He added: "We are happy to introduce a second service on the popular Delhi-Dubai route, which has seen a steady growth in traffic be it tourists or business travellers."

The additional services from Mangalore will now complement the airline’s existing Gulf operations to Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dubai, Doha, Kuwait, Muscat and Sharjah, as well as Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam from several cities in India.