Air India on Wednesday announced that various new flights would begin from next month on domestic as well as international routes, in order to meet passengers’ heavy demand during the summer vacation.

The national carrier said it will offer an additional 3,500 seats per week on the Mumbai-Dubai-Mumbai route from June 1.

Moreover, it will offer an additional 3,500 seats per week on the Delhi-Dubai-Delhi route too from June 2 by operating two new flights using its B787 Dreamliner aircraft.

“The airline will offer a one-way Economy class promotional fare of Rs 7,777 (all inclusive) from both Delhi and Mumbai to Dubai for sale and travel up to July 31, 2019,” Air India said in a statement.

On the domestic front, Air India said it will introduce new flights on the Bhopal-Pune-Bhopal route and the Varanasi-Chennai-Varanasi route from June 5.

“The number of flights on the Delhi-Bhopal-Delhi route will be increased from the present 14 flights per week to 20 flights per week by introducing a third frequency to the historical city of Tals,” the statement added.

The national carrier would increase its flights on the Delhi-Raipur-Delhi route from the existing seven flights per week to 14 flights per week.

According to Air India, the number of flights per week would be increased on routes such as Delhi-Bengaluru-Delhi, Delhi-Amritsar-Delhi, Chennai-Ahmedabad-Chennai and Chennai-Kolkata-Chennai.

The flights per week would also be increased on the Delhi-Vadodara-Delhi route and the Mumbai-Vizag-Mumbai route, the statement added.

Since April 17, when Jet Airways suspended its operations due to lack of funds, there has been intense competition among other Indian carriers to get its domestic slots and international flying rights.

On May 17, Civil Aviation Secretary P. S. Kharola had said that while all Indian airlines have asked for Jet Airways’ international flying rights, Air India has already been given some routes as it is always considered “on priority” on such matters.

As Jet Airways has been out of operation for more than one month, the airfares across various important domestic routes and international routes have increased significantly.

Consequently, the Civil Aviation Ministry has allocated more than 50 per cent of the domestic slots of Jet Airways to other airlines on a temporary basis.

After allocating these domestic slots, the ministry has also allocated some of Jet Airways’ international flying rights to other airlines, including Air India, on temporary basis.

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