Flydubai Adds Second Link to India

United Arab Emirates (UAE) low-cost carrier flydubai is to launch flights to Hyderabad, its second destination in India. The budget operator will offer a three times weekly schedule to the destination, one of the fastest growing cities in the world, from June 11. The route will mainly target the 1.4 million-strong Indian expat community in the UAE, providing a low-cost connection to the south of India during the peak summer holiday season.

“There is a huge Indian community in the UAE and one of the reasons flydubai was established was to provide low cost, quality links to places the expat community in the UAE wish to travel to,” said Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive officer, flydubai. “While our Lucknow route provides a gateway to North and Central lndia; our Hyderabad route will be a low-cost connection to South India, benefiting not only the Indian expat population in the UAE but also bringing increased tourism and business opportunities to this historic city.”

Known as the ‘City of Pearls’, thanks to a 200-year old trade in pearls once patronised by the Nizams or Mughal rulers, Hyderabad today is fast gaining currency as an IT hub, housing global players like Google and Microsoft, as well as home-grown brands Wipro and TCS. Also, as the centre of Mughlai cuisine, Hyderabad is responsible for introducing the famous Hyderabadi Biriyani to the world.

An estimated 6.4 million O&D passengers travelled between India and UAE in the past year. With just the one route, flydubai accounted for less than 0.5 per cent share of this traffic; a market a dominated by its parent company, Emirates Airline with a 29.1 per cent share.

Schedule:

FZ435 DXB2030 – 0145+1HYD 73H 467
FZ436 HYD0230 – 0440DXB 73H 157