Business Wire India

Rohit Ramachandran - Jazeera Airways CEO; Mr. SGK Kishore CEO, GHIAL

Jazeera Airways, Kuwait’s leading low cost airline, operating regionally and internationally, inaugurated today its daily flights to Hyderabad. Upon arrival in India, Jazeera Airways held a joint press conference with GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. (GHIAL), which operates Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad, bringing together media partners, travel agents from Kuwait and Hyderabad and other distinguished guests.

Kochi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad will follow in early 2018 as the airline expands its network to serve its Indian sub-continent targeting nearly 1 million Indian nationals residing in Kuwait.

Flight J9 608 departed on November 16^th at 18:40 pm from Kuwait International Airport and landed in Hyderabad at 01:35 am this morning. The return flight J9 608 will depart Hyderabad at 02.20 am and arrive in Kuwait at 05.10 am. The new evening route has a weekly capacity of 4,000 seats and allows passengers to conveniently enjoy a full day at their destination. To mark the special occasion, all 165 passengers flying from Kuwait to Hyderabad received a gift box of traditional Kuwaiti sweets.

During the conference, Mr. Rohit Ramachandran, CEO of Jazeera Airways said, ‘This is a proud moment for us marking the expansion of our network into India. We are delighted to start with Hyderabad, a 400-year old city and a technology hub, bringing more choice to Indian travelers, connecting them to Kuwait, Riyadh, Jeddah, Bahrain and Dubai. In addition, we offer for religious travelers connections to Taif in KSA, Najaf (Iraq), Mashad (Iran) and Amman for the Holy Land.

He further commented: ‘This new service will address surging travel demands with low cost fares at convenient frequencies for leisure, business or religious travel. India is a financial and tourist powerhouse and we are eager to capitalize on the enormous opportunities ahead.’

Mr. SGK Kishore, CEO, GHIAL, said, “We welcome Jazeera Airways to Hyderabad and we are very happy to note that they have chosen Hyderabad Airport as their first Indian destination. We are confident that this will further boost the tourism potential between India and various tourist destinations in the Middle East including Kuwait, Iran, Jordan and Egypt among others. With the largest domestic network in the region, Hyderabad Airport is best placed to serve as the Gateway to South and Central India and the launch of this new service to Kuwait by Jazeera Airways is a testament to this fact.”

Hyderabad Airport has witnessed 15.24 Million Passengers Per Annum in FY2016-17, registering a growth of approx. 22% in overall passenger traffic and 23% growth in air traffic movements over FY2015-16. With its extensive route network and choice of airlines for its passengers, RGIA has firmly established itself as the ‘Gateway of Choice’ in South and Central Indian region. As a result, RGIA has recorded a 56% growth in domestic transfer passengers in FY17 & over FY16. Now 9 domestic carriers connect Hyderabad with 39 domestic destinations. The airport also connects 17 international destinations with 17 foreign and 3 Indian carriers.

Flying to over 20 destinations across the Middle East, Europe & India, Jazeera Airways operates a reliable fleet of 8 Airbus A320 aircrafts currently. It provides a refined business lounge, on-board meals, high frequency of flights, a unique ‘Park and Fly’ with valet parking, a baggage allowance of 30kg-50kg per passenger, recently refurbished cabin interiors coupled with a bold new livery and stylish new crew uniforms. In 2018, Jazeera Airways is expected to inaugurate its own dedicated terminal at Kuwait International Airport.

Jazeera Airways has been internationally renowned as the number one airline in the region and number two in the world for On-Time-Performance by the world’s leading air travel intelligence company, OAG. It is also the recipient of the ‘Low Cost Airline of the Year’ Award at the Aviation Business Awards in Dubai recognizing Jazeera Airways’ best value flights and service in the region.

Travelers can book flights or learn more about Jazeera Airways services, offers, promotions and destinations via Jazeera’s revamped website – Jazeeraairways.com, or through the dedicated app or from all travel agents.About GHIAL

GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL) is a joint venture company promoted by the GMR Group (63%) in partnership with Airports Authority of India (13%), Government of Telangana (13%) and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (11%). The Company was incorporated to design, finance, build, operate and maintain a world class Greenfield airport at Shamshabad, Hyderabad. Hyderabad airport was commissioned in a record time of 31 months in March 2008, with an initial capacity of 12 million passengers per annum (MPPA) and 1,50,000 MT of cargo handling capacity per annum. The Project has the flexibility to increase capacity to accommodate over 40 MPPA and shall be developed in a phased manner.