The Hindu Business Line : Air Arabia eyes more destinations in India

Coimbatore, Oct. 1 Air Arabia, which is the first international airline to operate a direct service to Coimbatore, is looking at bringing more destinations in India under its network, according to Mr Kyle Haywood, Commercial Director, Air Arabia.

The airline, which commenced it’s twice-a-week operations on the Sharjah-Coimbatore sector from today, will be increasing the frequency to thrice a week shortly.

Speaking to presspersons here on Monday just after the Sharjah-Coimbatore Air Arabia flight landed in the afternoon, Mr Haywood said his airline recognised the importance of Indian market. Coimbatore was the eighth destination in India connected by the airline with Sharjah.

The Indian operations account for approximately 15 per cent of the revenue earned by Air Arabia, which operates its services to 37 destinations in the Gulf, North Africa, Central Asia and the Indian-subcontinent.

He said the core mission of the airline was to make airline travel ‘affordable, reliable travel to the masses’ without compromising on the safety, service and reliability of the aircraft. The company, which has become a public company, was also a profitable carrier, despite being a low-cost one by working effectively and efficiently.

Rapid expansion

Mr Haywood said Air Arabia would start its operations to Bangalore from later this month. The company was, at present, going through a rapid expansion phase and in order to use the aircrafts effectively, it would have to put on new routes quickly, not only in India but other places in the Gulf and in CIS states and North Africa.

Asked about the destinations in India the airline was looking at, Mr Haywood said “we continue to be open to all destinations” and one of the things the airline was “particularly good at” was that apart from going to developed routes, its business was good at going to new routes as well.

He said the type of aircraft being used by Air Arabia could be used for non-stop flights to farther destinations in India such as Kolkata and Hyderabad. Commenting on fleet expansion, he said next year, four aircraft would be added to its fleet and the airline was looking at a fleet strength of up to 54 planes by 2015. There was high demand for aircraft, particularly the newer aircraft which the company operated, and it would try to push the scheduled delivery dates of airplanes by the manufacturer.

Asked how Air Arabia looked at its prospects on this sector where Indian also operated, Mr Haywood said as a public company, it was answerable to the public that it remained profitable. The airline would not go to any route that did not have good business potential. The market from Coimbatore to the UAE and beyond was ‘robust’ and the market was good enough to satisfy both carriers.

Ms K. Hemalatha, Director, Coimbatore Airport, said Air Arabia had seized the opportunity to launch its services to Coimbatore earlier than scheduled and a few more international carriers were also expected to operate their services from Coimbatore shortly.