Air India Express to start first direct flight service from Sharjah to Surat

Air India Express is all set to launch its first direct flight service from Surat to Sharjah on February 16, 2019 and will also expand services from Gulf to Kannur in Kerala.

The carrier will deploy Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft on this route and will be upgraded to four flights a week in the summer schedule. Surat-Sharjah will be the 47th non-stop direct connection of Air India Express between destinations in India and the Gulf region.

Air India Express is set to further expand its operations in its summer schedule 2019, which shall commence on March 31, 2019.Operating with a fleet of 25 Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft, the airline will have 653 weekly departures in the new schedule, as against 621 departures per week currently.

The increase in operations will be achieved through capacity addition and by increasing aircraft utilisation, which is poised to go up from about 13.3 hours currently to 13.4 hours per day per aircraft in the summer schedule, the airline said in a statement.

“Summer 2019 will witness additional capacity being deployed to strengthen the network between Gulf and Kerala. There will be two more flights on Mondays and Fridays, bringing the total flights on Kannur Abu Dhabi sector to five flights per week Launch of thrice weekly flights from Kannur to Muscat,” the statement said.

The Airline has plans to further expand its fleet for which necessary approvals are in the process of being obtained, reports PTI.