Passengers on Delhi, Kochi, Chennai and Mumbai
routes to get new aircraft and facilities
Stating that it is expecting a huge traffic volume from India as it had
experienced on the India-Gulf sector, Gulf Air has announced flights from three
more cities -- Pune, Ahmedabad and Amritsar -- and deployment of new A-321
state-of-the-art aircraft with new facilities on the existing Kochi, Chennai,
Mumbai and Delhi routes.
Gulf Air Chief Commercial Officer Karim Makhlouf told journalists here
that, subject to approvals, Gulf Air would connect Amritsar, Pune and
Ahmedabad. He also welcomed the decision of the Union Civil Aviation Ministry
to hold fresh bilateral negotiations to enhance air tariff rights with
countries like Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iraq, Macao, Afghanistan,
Singapore and Thailand.
Mr. Makhlouf said Gulf Air would continue to develop the four
destinations it now flies, by offering new products like a fully-flat bed in
the business class of the new Airbus A-321s.
“Keeping in mind the large volume traffic between Indian cities and
Bahrain and our commitment to offer best-in-class products and services to our
Indian customers, I am glad to introduce the Airbus A-321 aircraft on our
Indian routes. The aircraft, for the first time, offers full flat beds in its
class with several innovative features, including an in-seat massage mechanism
that can be operated by the passenger. In addition, the single aisle aircraft
offers more legroom, extra galley space for movement and comes with the latest
in-flight entertainment of its class. We offer our Indian travellers seamless
and faster connections in less than 3 hours giving you a choice of as many as
730 flights a week to the Gulf, Middle East, North Africa and Europe via our
efficient hub Bahrain,” he said.
He also unveiled the airline’s new commercial initiatives exclusive to
the Indian market. These included Falcon Corporate Plus, a package designed
exclusively for corporate travellers, offering a range of benefits that include
special price discounts and free upgrades from economy to Falcon Gold
class.
He said the airline earned about eight per cent of its total revenue
from the Indian sector and had almost exhausted its bilateral rights and was
currently offering 16,600 seats a week between Bahrain and the four Indian
cities.
Asked whether the airline was interested in picking up a stake in any
Indian carrier, he said at the moment they were not thinking about it. “Today,
Bahrain is the second home to nearly 400,000 Indians and bilateral trade has
last year touched $1.7 billion,” he added.
He also said that the most important of this suite of initiatives was
the state-of-the-art in-flight entertainment offering the world’s first
full connectivity onboard Gulf Air’s long-haul flights offering high speed
internet, 3G-4G mobile data speed connectivity, voice over the internet (VOIP)
i.e. Skype, streaming videos and in-flight live TV via satellite.
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