New route announced by flydubai

The budget airline flydubai will begin flights to the Afghan capital of Kabul starting next month, its fourth new route announced in the past few weeks. The carrier is offering introductory fares of Dh725 (US$197) for the service, which will operate five times a week from May 17, using its Boeing fleet of 737-800 single-aisled aircraft.

Air travel to Afghanistan is in high demand due to the military and reconstruction activity in the country. Until now the demand has been met by limited services from Afghanistan's national airline, Ariana Afghan Airlines, and several charter operators based in Dubai. The airline also announced three services a week to Luxor, in Egypt, starting on May 19. A week ago, the airline announced plans to begin flying to Assiut in Egypt and the Turkish city of Istanbul.

The new routes will push its total network to 17 destinations since flydubai was launched last June out of Terminal 2 at Dubai International Airport. The airline this year plans to double its number of routes and staff size after attracting more than 500,000 passengers to date, and will receive another seven aircraft, with deliveries accelerating to one a month starting in October. @Email:[e-mail]