Dubai: Indian expats from Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh can now pay less and fly home faster with Indian budget carrier Air India Express (AIE) launching a service from Sharjah to Chandigarh from September 15.
It will be the first direct service from the UAE to the north Indian city and the first international flight to Chandigarh International Airport, K. Shyam Sundar, the CEO of AIE, said at a press conference in Dubai on Wednesday.
The Chandigarh flights will operate on Monday, Thursday and Saturday.
The airline also announced a daily flight from Sharjah to Tiruchirappally in Tamil Nadu from September 14 following a huge demand for the service after the flight from Dubai to Trichy International Airport.
The Sharjah-Varanasi flight that started with three services a week last year will also be made a daily flight from September 15, Sundar added.
The airline will now operate 164 flights per week from the UAE to India. Almost 85 per cent of its flights operate in the Gulf sector and about 65 per cent of these are operated from UAE airports except Fujairah. “We will definitely reach out to Fujairah also based on the resources available and demand seen in the market,” said Sundar.
Anurag Bhushan, Consul-General of India in Dubai. said: “From the government side, we will try to ensure that we continue to clear the way for having more flights for serving the community, especially to [Indian] cities which are not yet serviced as well as we would want them to.”
Parminder Pal Singh, sales manager for Dubai and Northern Emirates, told Gulf News the rates for Chandigarh and Trichy flights start from Dh299 and Dh349 respectively.
“The first 30 seats on these flights will be available at these rates…There will be only an addition of Dh40 to Dh50 for the next bucket of seats,” he said after the press conference.
Airline officials said UAE passengers can make use of a recently launched mobile app of AIE to book tickets. It has also launched a Facebook page to extend customer service.
Melwin D’Silva, regional manager for Gulf, Middle East and Africa for Air India and AIE, and Abdul Wahid Al Zarouni, managing director of Arabian Travel Agency, the local general sales agent of the airlines, also addressed media.
North Indian expats were delighted to hear the news of the Chandigarh service.
“The main stress of going to India was going from Delhi to Chandigarh. We would reach from Dubai to Delhi in three hours and then from Delhi to Chandigrah it would take about six hours by car. Taking a train is not an easy option. We have been looking forward for a direct service to Chandigarh,” Radhika Singh, a teacher in Dubai, said.
“From Punjab and Himachal also it is a long distance to take flights from Delhi. Shimla is just a three-hour drive from Chandigarh but from Delhi it takes 10 hours,” she noted.
Sharjah-Chandigarh
Flight No: IX 188
Service on Monday, Thursday and Saturday
Departure at 12.45pm UAE time
Arrival 5.15pm IST
Chandigarh-Sharjah
(Return flight)
Flight No: IX 187
Departure at 6.15pm IST
Arrival at 8pm UAE time
Sharjah-Tiruchirappalli (Trichy)
Daily service
Flight No: IX 614
Departure at 8.35pm UAE time
Arrival at 2.30am IST
Trichy-Sharjah
(Return flight)
Flight No: IX 613
Departure at 3.30am IST
Arrival at 6.20am UAE time
