Indian carriers add more flights to the UAE amid surge in December demand

Indian carriers add more flights to the UAE amid surge in December demand

India-UAE air travel routes are set to see heavy traffic in December, with carriers planning to add hundreds more flights to cater to an increasing demand, airline sources have said.

Despite the spike in demand, airlines do not expect any significant surge in air fares in this sector, barring the Christmas-New Year week, an airline official told Arabian Business.

The revival of leisure travel from India to popular destinations such as Dubai and the expected increase in travel by expat Indians during the year-end period are said to be driving the demand.

Air India Express, which operates the maximum number of flights between India and the UAE, has scheduled as many as 417 flights for December, compared to about 270 flights each in the last two months.

“We have scheduled over 250 flights to Dubai alone from various Indian cities for December,” a senior Air India Express official told Arabian Business.

This works out to be about eight flights daily on an average to Dubai from various cities in India.

Besides Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai Kochi, Kozhikode and Thiruvanathapuram, Air India Express also has scheduled flights from many smaller cities such as Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), Mangalore (Karnataka), Tiruchirapilli and Madurai (Tamil Nadu).

Air India Express, the sister airline