Flydubai, Dubai's first budget carrier, is scheduled for takeoff to five Indian cities -- Pune, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Jaipur and Goa -- in the second quarter of this year, it was reported here today.
The flights, however, will depend on the availability of aircraft as the airline has not received any of its planes so far, Dubai's Business 24/7 newspaper said.
"No aircraft has arrived yet but we are on schedule to launch the airline," Chief Executive Ghaith Al Ghaith told the newspaper. "We will soon be making an announcement about the airline's launch. All I can say for now is it is on track," he said.
The budget carrier, assisted in its initial stages by Emirates, has 54 Boeing 737-800s on order, worth $4 billion. It ordered 50 planes from Boeing and four from leasing company Babcock and Brown during the Farnborough International Airshow in July last year.