POST the recent open-skies policy announced by the Indian government, Qatar Airways is almost tripling the number of weekly non-stop flights between Doha and India.
From 19 flights a week spread across four Indian cities – Mumbai, Cochin, Trivandrum and Hyderabad – the airline is sharply raising frequency to 51 services a week from November 1.
The increased capacity to each of the four Indian destinations served from Doha will be effective until March 31, 2005. Flights to India’s commercial capital Mumbai are increasing from six services a week to 13; the southern Indian city of Cochin sees capacity rise from three to 13 weekly flights; Trivandrum’s daily operation goes up to 13 flights a week; and the burgeoning IT centre of Hyderabad sees the number of flights increase from three services a week to 12. For the second year running, the Indian government has relaxed its policy on capacity restrictions to foreign airlines by opening up the skies for a five-month period over the busy holiday season.
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer, Akbar Al Baker said: “We welcome the Indian government’s decision because capacity has traditionally been restricted and this move is a step in the right direction to provide greater competition and to serve the travelling public, potentially paving the way for an open-skies policy year round.”