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Saudia to fly bi-weekly to Kochi; India big market for airline >From Indo-Asian News Service Jeddah, Mar 17 (IANS) Saudi Arabian airline Saudia will begin bi-weekly flights to Kochi from March 30. Khaled Bin Bakr, director general of Saudia, said the Jeddah-Riyadh-Kochi flights would be operated on Sundays and Mondays. Bakr said India and Egypt were the airline's biggest markets in Asia and Africa respectively. The airline will also start flights to the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh from June 25. This brings the total number of domestic and international destinations covered by the airline to 80 -- 54 international and 26 domestic. In December, India and Saudi Arabia agreed to increase the number of flights between the countries by 25 percent -- from 24 to 30 per week. As of now, Saudia operates flights to Mumbai, New Delhi and Chennai. Authorities also agreed to increase the number of airline seats on the route in order to cope with the increasing volume of traffic. Saudia will ferry an estimated 900 more passengers a week once the flights to Kochi begin. Air-India is also increasing its flights to Riyadh by 50 percent, from six to nine per week, resulting in an increase in capacity by 900 passengers. Earlier this month Qatar Airways began flights to Kochi. The flights will leave on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. Qatar Airways operates 19 flights a week to the Indian cities of Kochi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram. --Indo-Asian News Service _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.goanet.org/mailman/listinfo/goanet
