Etihad Airways to up capacity on Indian routes

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, plans to double the capacity of the existing flights from Mumbai and Delhi shortly.

The airline now operates 10 flights, 7 from Mumbai and 3 from Delhi"" to Abu Dhabi each week.

"We are looking at enhancing Mumbai services to 14 flights a week and daily flights from Delhi," said Etihad Airways Area Manager (Western & Southern India) Neerja Bhatia.

She said the airline is looking for the possibility of adding two or three cities to its existing network and planning to buy new aircraft to its fleet of aircraft by the end of this year.

Looking at growing need of airlines by large Indian community in Gulf and beyond in UK and North America, Etihad is planning for heavy investment in coming years to meet requirements, a airline executive said.

An executive said the airline is also looking at destinations including Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Bangalore, Hyderbad and Chennai. Etihad is planning to launch a special passenger recognition programme in August and would revamp its website.

Etihad has expanded its network to Islamabad, Peshawar, Brussels, Toronto, Johannesburg and Manila and will add Manchester and Muscat in this month.

Meanwhile, the airline has introduced new Airbus A330-200 on the Mumbai-Abu Dhabi route. "The arrival of A330-200 on the Mumbai route continue to define the Etihad's rapid growth.