Air India plans to begin operations to 18 new destinations this summer of which three will include the Middle East, a senior airline official has said.
The new routes planned to the Gulf include a flight connecting Manama, Bahrain and Dammam to New Delhi while a direct flight from Dubai will connect Vishakapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, said Deepak Barara, Executive Director of Air India.
According to him, the recently cancelled Salalah-Thiruvananthapuram flight will also resume shortly.
There are currently 21 flights a week from Gulf countries to India.
There has been an overall improvement in the airlines bottom line with a near-double digit growth in net profit (9.89 per cent) and a 20 per cent growth in bilateral air traffic flow between India and the UAE, Barara was quoted as saying by Emirates 24/7.
He said A321 carriers will be deployed to some Kerala airports.