Etihad expanding Indian route to daily service

Underlining the importance of India as an emerging market Etihad is to increase services to Bangalore, the airline has announced.

Etihad Airways is launching extra flights to its eighth destination in India - the Garden City, Bangalore.

The airline which already operates four return flights a week to Bangalore, the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka and the country's third most populous city.

Now, according to an emailed statement published on the state-run Emirates New Agency, the airline will increase to a daily service on the route from March 25, 2011, at the commencement of its summer scheduling season.

Neerja Bhatia, country manager in India of Etihad Airways, said: "India is a hugely important market for Etihad - in fact, we operate to more destinations in India than any other country.

"We are delighted to be able to reach out to our guests in Karnataka through this new direct service - the first to operate between Bangalore and the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi." Etihad operates a two class Airbus A320 on the new Bangalore route configured to carry 140 passengers with 20 in Business class and 120 in Economy class.

With the addition of Bangalore, Etihad flies to eight Indian destinations including the cities of New Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad and Kochi with a total of 49 flights to India per week, Etihad said in the statement.