Air India Express to start flights to Bahrain

Air India Express will begin operations to Bahrain next month. "The low cost arm of India's national carrier, Air-India, will initially operate to Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi, from Bahrain, via Doha," said AIE chief operating officer Captain P P Singh. "The budget carrier will later expand operations to cover India's capital New Delhi, also via Doha," he said. Capt Singh said the detailed schedule would be available shortly. The announcement of AIE's Bahrain and Doha operations comes days after the carrier received its first new aircraft in 10 years, a Boeing 737-800. "The service to Bahrain will be operated on such an aircraft, with a capacity of 180 all-economy seats," said Capt Singh. He said at the moment, there would be seven flights a week, including three to Mumbai. "These seven flights would replace all the existing flights that Air-India operates to Bahrain," said Capt Singh. He said the regular Air-India services would cease to operate to coincide with the launch of AIE.

Air-India's Bahrain and Jordan manager M N Naik said the fares would be about 20 per cent less than regular carriers. "Though it is supposed to be a budget airline, AIE will provide passengers with basic snacks, as opposed to other low cost carriers," he said. Passengers will have an option to purchase regular meals on board, said Mr Naik. He said the catch was to buy the ticket at the earliest. "The earlier one buys the ticket, the less it would cost," said Mr Naik. He said the launch of service would help meet a major demand in Bahrain. "We had been petitioned several times over the last two years to start operations," said Mr Naik. "It has had many false starts but we now have a firm plan." The airline was inaugurated in April last year mainly to satisfy demands from under-privileged Indians in the Gulf and elsewhere for an affordable means of travel. It is already offering flights to major international destinations within a distance of around four hours from different cities in India.

Most of the flights are quick-turn-around services with a ground time of around one-hour at the destinations. AIE already operates from Indian cities like Kozhikode, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Mumbai and Delhi to destinations as Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Dubai, Muscat, Sharjah and Salalah. Mr Naik said tickets can be reserved only through the Internet since the booking facility will not be available through any existing central reservation system. "However, the airline plans to authorise selected travel agents to do the booking." They would, however, charge around BD 2 and BD 4 as a service fee for one-way and return bookings respectively, he said.

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