Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (DV)

Updated

Mangaluru, Mar 29: The inaugural Jet Airways direct flight between Mangaluru and Abu Dhabi took off from Mangalore International Airport at 5.50 pm on Sunday March 29.

The formal ceremony was inaugurated by health minister U T Khadar, sports minister Abhaychandra Jain and MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, in the presence of MLA J R Lobo, MLA Mohiuddin Bava, MLC Ivan D'Souza and others.

Addressing a press meet at the airport hours before the take-off, chief commercial officer of Jet Airways, Raj Sivakumar said, "Jet Airways will enhance its international connectivity with the introduction of a new direct daily flight linking Mangaluru, on of the top business destinations and a key port of Karnataka, with Abu Dhabi, UAE's commercial capital.

"This is the second flight (by Jet Airways) to the Gulf region from Mangaluru, the other being daily flight to Dubai," he added.

Jet Airways flight 9W502 will depart from Mangaluru at 1750 hours and arrive at Abu Dhabi at 2020 hours (local time). The return flight 9W501 will depart from Abu Dhabi at 0845 hours (local time) and arrive in Mangaluru at 1345 hours. The flight will also be code shared by Jet Airways strategic partner Etihad Airways.

The airline will deploy Boeing 737-800 Next Generation (NG) aircraft on Mangaluru-Abu Dhabi route.

"We have close to 50 flights departing from multiple points in India to Gulf region. We have 270 flights to UAE per week from various points in India," Sivakumar said.

"Mangaluru is the 11th city offering service to Abu Dhabi. We have 12 flights a day from 11 cities into Abu Dhabi, offering very convenient connections to the rest of the world as well as our flights from Dammam and Kuwait. We are extremely pleased to be here launching this service and we will continue investing more and more in Mangaluru. We see huge opportunities both in terms of domestic as well as international markets and hope that in the coming days we will be here to offer additional services," he said.

He further added, "Jet Airways is pleased to provide a daily service from Mangaluru to Abu Dhabi, an indication of the airline's commitment to connect India's emerging cities to international gateway points and destinations with direct and one-stop flights. Moreover, the new service will cater to an overwhelming demand from a large number of Indians settled in the Gulf, and those wanting to travel overseas on business and tourism from Mangaluru and its neighbouring areas.

"Jet Airways since its inception has participated in the growth of the travel business to/from Karnataka. With daily flights from major destinations in Karnataka to Delhi ad Mumbai, Jet Airways offers multiple options of travelling on its expansive network," he added.

"As far as international destinations go, we will look into opportunities to add more Gulf points from Mangaluru. We are very strong in Gulf and serve major Gulf destinations, and are in the process of adding more markets as we widely establish ourselves commercially," he said.

Jet Airways along with its strategic partner Etihad Airways offers 350 weekly frequencies to Abu Dhabi from 12 Indian cities. "As part of the airline's plan to enhance global connectivity from India's emerging metros, the introduction of this new service will allow guests to avail multiple travel options through Abu Dhabi to popular destinations in Europe, North America, and the Gulf," stated a press note from the airline.

Jet Airways Karnataka general manager Harish Shenoy and others were present.