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UAE-India fares set to fall as Air India Express adds more flights

Dubai - Airline to launch Sharjah-Surat route, and expand services from Sharjah and Abu Dhabi to Kannur.

India's budget carrier Air India Express has decided to 'consciously' reduce airfares from the GCC sector to Kannur after complaints from customers about exorbitant fares on those routes.

Speaking to Khaleej Times on the sidelines of a press meet announcing the airline's plans to launch services to Surat and expand operations from the recently launched Kannur airport, chief executive office of Air India Express, K Shyam Sundar, said Kannur-Sharjah services will be increased to a daily service from the present four weekly flights.

"After considering customer feedback that the fares to Kannur were considerably higher than other airports in the sector (Kozhikide, Mangalore), AIE has made a conscious decision to reduce flight fares by enhancing daily services from Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Kuwait, Doha, and Riyadh," he said.

"There will be two more flights on Mondays and Fridays, bringing the total flights on the Kannur-Abu Dhabi sector to five flights per week," he explained, "Price reduction is a function of demand and supply, as the supply increases the prices will come down. The price surge from Kannur happened simply because of the novelty of its launch. The seats were taken very quickly and the launch took place during the peak flying season (December)."

Sundar announced that the budget carrier is set to further expand its operations in its summer schedule of 2019, which will commence on March 31. "With the launch of the daily services, we are expecting prices to drop," he added.

The officials also stated that additional flights will also be launched to other GCC sectors including Kannur-Muscat, Kannur-Kuwait via Bahrain, Kannur-Doha, and Kozhikode-Riyadh.

Maiden flights to Surat

Sundar also announced that the first ever international service to Surat International Airport with an aircraft based in Sharjah is set to operate Sharjah-Surat-Sharjah service. The maiden service to Surat will begin on February 16, 2019. Surat-Sharjah will be the 47th non-stop direct connection of Air India Express between destinations in India and the Gulf region.

Flight IX- 172 will depart from Sharjah at 7.35 pm and arrive in Surat at 11.45 on Mondays and Saturdays. The service will be upgraded to four flights a week in the summer schedule.

dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com