Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) welcomed the IndiGo’s inaugural flight to and from India, commencing daily flights that connect the UAE capital with Cochin International Airport (COK) and Calicut International Airport (CCJ). With its fleet of 189 Airbus A320 and 12 ATR aircraft, the airline offers over 1200 daily flights and connects 48 domestic destinations and 11 international destinations. The inaugural IndiGo flights from Cochin and Calicut touched down on October 15 and October 16, respectively. A daily non-stop flight from Cochin will depart at 13:30 and arrive at 16:30. The IndiGo service to Cochin will leave Abu Dhabi at 04:30, and will arrive at 10:30. IndiGo will fly out of Calicut at 00:40 and will arrive into Abu Dhabi at 03:30. The return IndiGo flight departs at 17:30 and arrives in Calicut at 23:30. All time slots incorporated above are according to the local time of respective geographies. Bryan Thompson, CEO, Abu Dhabi Airports, commented, “This new addition expands further the network of the capital’s airport to provide our passengers with enhanced connectivity. It also reflects further on the strong global confidence in the Abu Dhabi market, and we hope to continue to build on such partnerships over the coming months and years.” William Boulter, Chief Commercial Officer, IndiGo, said, “We are delighted to receive a heartening welcome from Abu Dhabi International Airport this morning. IndiGo has operated its inaugural flights from Calicut-Abu Dhabi and Cochin-Abu Dhabi. The airline has completed 12 years of successful operations in the India market as a low-cost carrier, and adding Abu Dhabi to its network will further augment the regional connectivity that we aspire to provide to our customers.”
Read More »250 airlines benefit from Travelport’s branding solution
Having achieved the milestone of 250 carriers, Travelport has now extended its leading position in airline merchandising by offering richer content to five times as many airlines as its nearest competitor. Travelport announced that over 250 airlines now benefit from its Rich Content and Branding merchandising tool which gives agencies and travel bookers a graphically rich experience when booking branded fares and ancillaries. Launched in 2014, Rich Content and Branding allows network airlines and low-cost carriers to differentiate themselves through ls and detailed descriptions of their products and services. Airlines benefiting from branded fares and ancillaries include IndiGo, Lufthansa, British Airways, Air France/KLM, Iberia and low-cost airlines such as Mango Airlines, Aegean, Ryanair and Loganair. Major airlines currently or soon offering access to their branded fares through Rich Content and Branding include China Southern Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Etihad Airways, Emirates, Norwegian, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and Avianca. In addition, Etihad Airways and Jetstar are introducing no-bag fares on long-haul routes, a development fully supported by Travelport’s new tool.
Read More »IndiGo adds Sharjah as 6th international destination
In order to strengthen its footprints in the Gulf region, IndiGo Airlines has added Sharjah to its international route, effective March 20, 2017. The airline will operate its new daily non-stop flights between Sharjah-Kozhikode-Sharjah and a second daily flight to operate non-stop between Sharjah-Thiruvananthapuram-Sharjah effective April 8, 2017. The introductory fares start as low as 243 AED for one way from Kozhikode to Sharjah. The new flights will cater to both leisure and business travellers. Sanjay Kumar, Chief Commercial Officer, IndiGo, said, “We are extremely pleased to expand our international network with Sharjah. Middle East has been an important market for IndiGo with rising business and tourism stemming from the gulf market. We are determined to provide the best travel experience to all those who wish to fly these destinations. We are looking at providing affordable fares on these new routes to our 6E travellers. We are now available on all Travelport platforms and interfaces reaching a vast number of travel agents around the globe.”
Read More »IndiGo’s two new daily non-stop to Sharjah
IndiGo, India’s largest budget-carrier, plans to introduce two daily routes to Sharjah International Airport, which will become its sixth international destination. The airline announced the launch of daily non-stop Sharjah-Kozhikode (CCJ) flights from 20 March and daily non-stop Sharjah-Thiruvananthapuram (TRV) flights from April 8. Headquartered in Gurgaon (Gurugram), India, IndiGo is India’s largest passenger airline with a market share of 40.3 percent (December 2016). IndiGo is ranked among the top ten best low-cost airlines in the world by leading consumer aviation website Skytrax and among the 10 On-Time Performers in the Asia Pacific region by FlightStats, a leader in global flight information services. The airline plans to to operate 857 daily flights connecting 43 destinations from March 2017. Sharjah-based Air Arabia already operates flights between the emirate and 13 key Indian destinations. Meanwhile, Air India Express added three new routes last year connecting Sharjah with Mumbai (SAHAR), Chandigarh (IXC) and Tiruchirapalli (TRZ) airports, bringing its total number of direct Sharjah services to seven. The low-cost airline also operates direct flights to Sharjah from Kochi (COK), Kozhikode (CCJ), Thiruvananthapuram (TRV) and Varanasi (VNS).Jet Airways now flies daily to Sharjah from Kozhikode, or Calicut (CCJ) and Kochi (COK), both in the south-west coast Indian state of Kerala. The airline launched a daily service from Mangaluru in Karnataka state in 2016, but stopped flying the route at the end of the year due to operational reasons.
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