Air India will operate 20 new weekly flights to Qatar from October 30, the airline said on September 8, expecting the demand to shoot up during the FIFA World Cup that will be hosted by the Gulf country in November-December.
The new flights to Doha, Qatar’s capital, will be operated from Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai.
“Bringing in the football extravaganza in this part of the world, Air India aims to provide strong connectivity between India and Qatar… Our flight schedule has been planned to make the entire travel experience convenient and seamless,” Air India’s chief commercial officer Nipun Aggarwal said.
Every week 13 flights would operate from Mumbai, four from Hyderabad and three from Chennai, Air India said in a press release. These flights will be in addition to the daily flights to Doha from New Delhi.
“Over the past few months, we have been working closely with our partners to return aircraft to service which has resulted in these additional flights. Air India hopes to continue to provide world-class flying experience for landmark sporting events in the future as well,” Aggarwal said.
The announcement comes days after Moneycontrol reported that the airline was planning to start new flights to Qatar and Dubai as part of its winter schedule.
While Air India is confident about increasing weekly flights to Doha as part of the winter schedule, adding flights to Dubai may need some approvals from the government.
“We are currently using all our 69 entitled flights to fly into Dubai. Additional routes will require a change in bilateral agreements,” a senior company official said.
