Gulf Daily News
MANAMA, Apr 20: Bahrain Air will begin operating flights to India next month, it was announced yesterday.Kerala's commercial capital Kochi will be the airline's first destination and more will follow, said managing director Ibrahim Al Hamer.
"We shall start operations to Kochi on May 26 with three flights a week, which will become a daily service from October this year," he told the GDN.
"We are looking forward to the support of the 280,000-strong Indian community, which is the single largest expatriate group in Bahrain."
Bahrain Air's first flight for the Bahrain-Kochi service starts on Monday, May 26 at 10.40am and arrives at Kochi International Airport at 5.30pm, local time on the same day.
The other two flights will operate on Tuesdays and Fridays, departing Bahrain at 7pm and arriving in Kochi at 2.30am on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
"Our service to the south Indian city of Kochi is our first step into the lucrative market of India, particularly the southern region," said Mr Al Hamer.
"This is to serve the increasing demand from the travelling public and in particular from the Indian community residing in Bahrain and the other GCC countries or for those who are visiting their families or are for business or leisure.
"Bahrain Air took the initiative entirely on its own to conclude the formalities and secure the clearance for traffic rights to India.
"We are grateful to the Indian government for its positive response."
Mr Al Hamer said the airline is pleased to be able to serve the large Indian community by way of offering cost effective and comfortable means of travel between Bahrain and Kerala.
"Bahrain Air passengers to Kochi will eventually be able to fly onward to other Indian destinations with the use of a domestic airline, with whom we are in the process of finalising the code sharing arrangements," he said.
"We are happy that our first destination in India is Kochi, which is the largest commercial hub in the beautiful southern Indian state of Kerala and is also a gateway to the other cities within the same state and others.
"Kochi is also renowned for special Ayurvedic spas and treatment centres."
Kochi will be the eighth destination in Bahrain Air's network.
"It will increase to 10 in June with the addition of Kuwait and Aleppo, Syria."
Two weekly flights to Aleppo and three weekly flights to Kuwait will be increased to two daily flights from October 2008.
The company also plans to launch two weekly flights to the Bangladesh capital Dhaka in October, said Mr Al Hamer.
Bahrain Air started operations out of Bahrain International Airport in February.
It has two daily services to Dubai and Doha, five weekly flights to Alexandria, four weekly flights to Beirut and Amman, three each to Damascus and Mashad in Iran.