Air India Express headquarters has approved the allocation of two flights from Muscat to Mangalore on the following days – Thursday and Saturday, where they will have a late evening arrival and departure from Mangalore into Muscat.
Out of the allocated flights, one flight will be a direct flight from Muscat to Mangalore whereas the other one will be a hopping flight from Abu Dhabi – Muscat – Mangalore.
The headquarters in Mumbai has directed the local office to approach the concerned officials in the office of the Director General of Civil Aviation, Sultanate of Oman, for the necessary approvals for the two flights that are being introduced from Muscat to Mangalore.
The slots and the timings of the flights will be finalized subject to the approval of the Ministry of Civil Aviation of the Government of Oman.
The Air India officials will submit the request to Mr. Rashid Al-Kiyumi, Director General of Civil Aviation in Oman, tomorrow, January 6th 2007.
When Mangalorean.com contacted the Air India officials at the headquarters, we were informed that Air India Express is very much interested in starting the Muscat-Mangalore sector, especially after the Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the two Civil Aviation Ministries in November 2006.
They also informed us that Air India Express has an acute shortage of skilled technical crew and they had a choice between two flights, that is, Cochin-Doha-Bahrain and Muscat-Mangalore. Preference was given to the Cochin-Doha-Bahrain flight as this particular sector already has a ready market survey and market analysis available. Air India Express will commence this flight from January 12th 2007. One could consider this as a New Year gift to Kerala from Air India Express.
But Mangaloreans need not lose hope as our turn to receive a New Year gift from Air India Express is not far behind. Come, January 18th if the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Oman, gives approval, the first direct International flight from Muscat to Mangalore will commence on this date, namely January 18, 2007.
However, Air India Express headquarters in Mumbai have specifically informed us that the commencement of this maiden flight from Muscat to Mangalore is subject to the availability of technical crew to operate these extra flights for Air India. This is even after getting the concerned approval from the Oman authorities.
We will keep you updated with the latest developments.
(courtesy mangalorean.com)
0 comments:
Post a Comment