05/01/08

Jet Airways takes off...



Bahrain yesterday became the 11th international and first Gulf destination for India's Jet Airways as a non-stop flight from Mumbai touched down at the Bahrain International Airport. The inaugural flight, which landed at 7.15am, was welcomed by senior Civil Aviation Affairs officials, led by Aviation Affairs assistant under-secretary Ahmed Ne'mat Ali. "This is a landmark event as India's largest private carrier has commenced operations," said Mr Ali."It is also significant that one of the best airlines in the world has chosen Bahrain as its first stop in the Gulf." He said he hoped the airline, which announced its operations to Bahrain and other parts of the Gulf after clearances from India's Civil Aviation Ministry in September last year, would further expand its operations in the near future. "These operations will significantly boost travel between the two countries and contribute towards increasing trade and commerce," said Mr. Ali. "We welcome this development and are sure this would strengthen the Bahrain-India ties."

Currently, Jet Airways is offering 14 non-stop flights every week, seven each to Kochi in Kerala and India's commercial capital, Mumbai. The inaugural flight, though it arrived from Mumbai with 123 passengers, left at 8.45am for Kochi, with 109 passengers. A flight from Kochi later arrived in Bahrain at 8pm and departed for Mumbai at 9.30pm.

Jet Airways sales and marketing regionaI manager Shakir Kantawala said international services were the backbone of developing relations all over the world and the airline would contribute to this."We are already very close as nations and this would bring us even closer," he said. Mr Kantawala said that the airline would focus on promoting tourism between the two countries and encourage more Bahrainis to visit India. "The growth will be significant in the time to come," he said.the 14 flights every week will operate state-of-the-art Boeing 737-800 aircraft, in the configuration of 124 economy and 16 business class seats.

Jet Airways was given approval to fly to Bahrain on September 14 and India's Civil Aviation Ministry has allocated 2,100 seats every week to its operations here. Of these, 1,050 seats have been allocated for Kochi, while the rest have been allocated to Mumbai. Mr Kantawala said the early morning arrival in Mumbai, at 3.50am, had been timed in such a way that it would connect to all of Jet Airways' destinations within India. Bahrain Airport director Mohammed Tamer Al Ka'abi, Indian Embassy Charge d'Affairs A K Bhatnagar and Bahrain Airport Services acting chief executive officer Salman Al Mahmeed were present on the occasion.


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