By IANS,
Dubai : The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) airline Emirates launched its flights to Kozhikode in India and Guangzhou in China from here Tuesday.
The Dubai-based airline is launching six flights a week each to the Indian and Chinese cities, it said in a statement here.
“Emirates presently operates services to Thiruvananthapuram and Cochin (Kochi),” Salem Obaidalla, Emirates’ senior vice-president for commercial operations in West Asia, Indian Ocean and Africa, said in the statement.
“The launch of Emirates’ flights to Kozhikode will allow international tourists to cover the length and breadth of Kerala more conveniently, by enabling them to arrive in northern Kerala and depart from the state’s southern region or vice versa. The new flights will also serve Keralites living in the Gulf region and visiting home each year,” he added.
A large number of the 1.5 million expatriate Indians in the UAE hail from Kerala.
Stating that Emirates has a robust presence in the Middle East, serving the region with 163 weekly flights to 12 gateways via its Dubai hub, Obaidalla said: “We have timed our flights such that they offer convenient connections to Kozhikode via Dubai.”
Kozhikode is Emirates’ third gateway in Kerala and its 10th in India, and the new operations will increase the airline’s number of flights to India to 125 a week.
This is the highest frequency operated by an international carrier serving India, the statement said.
According to the new schedule, on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, the flight will leave Dubai at 2:15 p.m. local time and reach Kozhikode at 7:50 p.m. The return flight will take off from Kozhikode at 9:20 p.m. and reach Dubai at 11:40 p.m.
On Thursday and Saturdays, the flight will depart from Dubai 3:30 a.m. and arrive in Kozhikode at 9:05 a.m. The return flight will leave Kozhikode at 10:35 a.m. and reach Dubai 12:55 p.m.
The airline said it would operate both Boeing 777-200 and A330-200 aircraft on the Kozhikode route.
Commenting on the Guangzhou operations, Richard Vaughn, the airline’s senior vice-president for commercial operations in East Asia and Australasia, said that these would help the Chinese authorities as they host the Olympic Games this year.
“Emirates’ efficient and reliable air links will facilitate inbound arrivals from over 60 countries on six continents, and will support the Chinese authorities as they ready to welcome over half a million international tourists for the Beijing Olympics 2008,” he said.