New Delhi

Private carrier Jet Airways on Sunday launched daily international flights to Abu Dhabi from Pune, Ahmedabad and Mangalore.

It is the first time that Jet Airways has offered international flights from Ahmedabad and Pune, a release said.

The new services rolled out today offer an enhanced air connectivity from India to destinations in the Gulf and beyond to North America, Europe and Africa with the carrier’s strategic partner Etihad Airways, the release said.

The airline will deploy a 178-seater Boeing 737-800 Next Generation (NG) aircraft, with 12 seats in premiere class and 156 seats in economy class to service the three new routes, it said.

Jet Airways chief executive Cramer Ball had last week said that the airline would enhance 11 per cent additional flights on the overseas routes while the domestic sector would see five per more flights during the summer schedule.

Airlines summer schedule begins from March 29 and lasts up to October 28 every year.

Abu Dhabi is a renowned international hub and the introduction of three new flights from Pune, Ahmedabad and Mangalore to this airport would open up access to dozens of key destinations around the world, Jet Airways Chief Commercial officer Raj Shivakumar said.

“The new services will help ensure Jet Airways is the preferred carrier by air travellers in these cities given our unparalleled domestic network and an ever-expanding international footprint,” he said.

The Mumbai-headquartered airline, in which Etihad holds 24 per cent stake, currently operates daily flights from Delhi, Kochi, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Goa to Abu Dhabi and twice daily from Mumbai.

Jet Airways is currently the only private domestic airline which operates over 50 daily flights to multiple destinations in the Gulf.

Budget carriers SpiceJet and IndiGo also fly to a few airports in the Gulf.

The airlines’ Gulf network includes daily departures to Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dubai, Doha, Kuwait, Sharjah, Muscat, Jeddah, Dammam and Riyadh.

PTI