Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Air Arabia to operate daily services to city

S. Anil Radhakrishnan

Thiruvananthapuram: The Sharjah-based United Arab Emirates `national budget airlines,' Air Arabia, will commence daily flights from Sharjah international airport to Thiruvananthapuram international airport from November 5.

The airline will deploy new A-320 aircraft for the flight operations in the Sharjah-Thiruvananthapuram- Sharjah sector. The flight will have only economy class and the aircraft can accommodate 162 passengers.

Airline sources told The Hindu that the daily flight from the Sharjah international airport would touch down at Thiruvananthapuram at 12.20 noon. It will depart from Thiruvananthapuram international airport to Sharjah at 1.05 p.m. on all days. The flying time to Sharjah is four hours.

The low-fares airline now operates flights to Mumbai, Nagpur, Jaipur and Kochi. The flights to Kochi commenced in May this year. Airline sources said the flights to Chennai would begin on November 2.

With the arrival of Air Arabia, the number of foreign airlines operating to Thiruvananthapuram international airport would go up to eight. In addition to the foreign airlines, Air India, its low cost carrier Air India Express and Indian are operating flights to the Gulf sector from the capital city.

Low fares

Modelled on the lines of leading American and European low-cost airlines, Air Arabia aims to make air travel more convenient and frequent through Internet bookings and by offering the lowest fares without affecting service and safety.

Launched in 2003, Air Arabia crossed the two million passenger milestone in March this year.

"The airline is offering very less fares to all destinations and efficient service. The airline has already introduced one-hour connections to Riyadh, Dammam, Kuwait, Doha, Bahrain, Muscat, Cairo, Amman and Sanah," airline sources said.

Meanwhile, Paramount Airways and KingFisher has also plans to operate flights in the domestic sector to Thiruvananthapuram international airport. A senior official of the AAI said the two airlines were yet to inform about the domestic sectors they plan to operate. Already, five domestic-carriers, including Indian, operate flights to the premier airport of the State.

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