Flydubai has announced that it will operate 3 weekly flights to Lucknow from June 2 2010.
After nearly a year of speculations and operational issues, low-cost carrier Flydubai have finally announced flights to India, with the introduction of flights to Lucknow launching from June 2, 2010. Flydubai is also planning to further strengthen its links to India.
The addition of flights to Lucknow on Flydubai’s network sees the airline gain a stronger foothold in the Indian Subcontinent since Flydubai announced flights to Karachi earlier this month.
Talking about the airline’s choice in Lucknow as the start city for flydubai’s India operations, the CEO of Flydubai stated:
“Lucknow is the second largest city in one of the most heavily populated areas of India and we anticipate that this will be a very successful route for us. The city, which has a population of around five million people, is underserved by direct air links to the UAE and one of our key commitments is to start flights to this type of destination.”
The flight to Lucknow in India will operate 3 times a week to the state capital of Uttar Pradesh, which will now represent Flydubai’s 20th destination.
Subcontinent expansion
Last year, flydubai had announced India operations to Lucknow, Coimbatore and Chandigarh for the month of July, but citing operational issues, those routes never took off and passengers were refunded after bookings had opened.
At the time, the CEO of Flydubai had stated:
“We understand that this is very inconvenient for the passengers who have booked flights with us to India and we apologise for the disruption and disappointment caused. All passengers who have booked flights to India will be given a full refund, plus a voucher for a free return flight…”
When asked again about the potential of such destinations added to the route network, Flydubai’s CEO stated:
“We hope that we will gradually be able to increase the number of cities in India and that we will fly to as many places as we have done with both Egypt and Syria. We are working closely with the Indian authorities to develop our links between Dubai and India.”
While there has been ample speculation and media reports that Indian budget carriers Indigo and SpiceJet could launch services to Dubai next year, currently Air India Express is the only low-cost airline operating on the route.
But India is not the only south Asian country Flydubai has set its sights on. Aside from already operating flights to Nepal, Flydubai will also jet into the Pakistani city of Karachi, operating 5 flights to karachi a week, from June 21.
Meanwhile, flydubai could also face competition from Pakistan’s budget carrier, Air Blue, which operates regular flights from Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.
Flydubai’s CEO has also confirmed that the airline will be receiving their 8th aircraft this month and will have 13 by the end of this year.
He added: “We will have 50 by 2016, and have no need of further aircraft orders at this point.”