THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Jet Airways will launch two daily flights from Kerala to the UAE from October 30. The Thiruvananthapuram-Dubai daily flight will depart at 8 am and reach Dubai at 12.30 pm IST (11 pm local time). The return flight will depart at 11.59 pm local time (1.29 am IST) and will arrive at 5.45 am IST. The Kozhikode-Sharjah flight will depart from Kozhikode at 9.25 pm and arrive at Sharjah at 11.55 pm local time (1.25 am IST). The inbound flight will leave Sharjah at 3.50 pm (4.20 pm local time) and arrive in Kozhikode at 9.45 pm IST. Kerala is 1.30 hours ahead of United Arab Emirates.
The new service will make Kozhikode the third Indian city to be connected by Jet Airways to Sharjah, adding to the daily flights that the airline already operates to the UAE from Kochi and Mangaluru. Jet Airways operates daily flights from Thiruvananthapuram to Muscat, Dammam, and Doha.
“Despite the reports on oil crisis, the Gulf region is becoming an increasingly popular destination among the Indian population, be it for business travel, tourism or employment. We are positive about operating flights as the state has a major portion of non-resident Indians in the country,” Gaurang Shetty, whole-time director of Jet Airways, said on Thursday.
Jet Airways, in a press release, said it would deploy Boeing 737-800 Next Generation aircraft on those routes. It has 13 international flights and four domestic flights from three airports in the state, said Shetty.