The Hindu Business Line : Indian Airlines set to increase presence in Gulf-India sector

Flying high Plans are on to introduce separate daily direct flights to Chennai and Hyderabad from Dubai IA plans to make the Dubai-Kozhikode (Calicut) route a daily operation from June 1

Abu Dhabi , May 11

Indian (formerly Indian Airlines), which has posted impressive growth figures in the Gulf-India sector in the fiscal ending March 2006, is set to substantially increase its presence in the region this summer with a huge jump in its operations out of Dubai, including direct daily flights to Chennai from Dubai.

Mr Pankaj Srivastava, Regional Manager, Gulf, for IA, told Business Line that in response to the growing demand in the Gulf region, the airline plans to increase its flights out of Dubai to 35 per week. In March, the airline's Dubai-Mumbai operations were increased to a double daily flight schedule, taking the operations out of Dubai to 23 flights per week.

New flights

Mr Srivastava said that plans are on to de-link the current Dubai-Hyderabad-Chennai operation and introduce separate daily direct flights to Chennai and Hyderabad from Dubai. "This new schedule will begin from June 1 and we will have for the first time, a direct daily flight to Chennai. This will boost frequency out of Dubai to 30 flights a week," he said.

In addition, IA plans to make the Dubai-Kozhikode (Calicut) route a daily operation from June 1, by adding five more flights on the sector. This will bring the total operations out of Dubai to 35 flights per week, the official said.

Growth figures

Mr Srivastava said that IA registered an 86 per cent seat factor out of the UAE and 82 per cent out of the Gulf in 2005-06 compared with 76 per cent and 73 per cent, respectively in 2004-05. In the UAE, revenue has grown by 26 per cent, while the increase has been 17 per cent out of the Gulf. There has also been a 30 per cent growth in passengers carried out of the UAE and 21 per cent for the total Gulf region.

The introduction of the Sharjah-Mumbai operations in the last fiscal has contributed significantly to the positive growth figures for the airline.

While an increase in market share has been the primary reason for the boost in capacity in the Gulf-India sector, IA has also benefited from bi-lateral arrangements with Dubai and the additional entitlements that followed. The booming economies of the UAE and India coupled with a substantial increase in tourism to both regions has also helped to increase the growth potential for airlines in the region.

IA operates in five states in the Gulf and also has special offline arrangements in Saudi Arabia that enable Saudi-based passengers to fly to Kerala destinations out of Bahrain.

The UAE is the main station in the Gulf from where IA operates out of four airports. The Gulf and South East Asia are the major overseas regions for the domestic carrier. IA, which has firm orders from Airbus for 43 aircraft, is scheduled to receive its first aircraft by the end of the year, the official added.