At a time when airlines across the globe are cutting down flights due to rising fuel costs, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Etihad Airways has introduced two new flights to Chennai and Kozhikode in India. The launch of Etihad’s new services now connects the region to a total of six destinations in India.

Speaking about the launches, the chief executive of Etihad Airways James Hogan, said, ‘India is an enormously important market for Etihad and one we are very keen to expand further.’ Despite the economic slump, the air travel business between India and the UAE has been going robust.

James Hogan, infact, added that the Etihad Airways plans to grow its Indian flying programme even further in the coming time. At present, the USE house about 1.5 million expatriate Indians and most of them belong from South India.
 

The launch of two new flights to India has now upped the total number of global destinations being served by the Abu Dhabi-based airline to 47. By the conclusion of 2008, this number is expected to touch 50 with the introduction of new flights to Minsk in Belarus, Moscow in Russia and Almaty in Kazhakstan.