http://in.news.yahoo.com//050310/43/2k3m6.html
Thursday March 10, 8:27 PM
Cheaper Air-India flights to Gulf from April By Indo-Asian News Service
New Delhi, March 10 (IANS) National carrier Air-India will begin low-cost operations to the Gulf region next month, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said Thursday.
"The new Air-India Express, which will be charging 30 percent lower than the other rates, will for the first time be air-based outside Mumbai - in Thiruvananthapuram or Calicut," Patel told the Lok Sabha.
He said the state-owned airline had decided to introduce the no frills services keeping "Gulf passengers from Kerala in mind".
"Air passengers from Kerala have always been given highest priority because a large number of air movement, both domestic and international, happens there," he told Virendra Kumar, an MP from Kerala.
Patel said both Air-India and Indian Airlines were currently operating 103 and 70 flights per week respectively to Gulf countries.
"In the year 2003-04, 2.43 million passengers travelled in this sector against the previous year's 2.23 million," the minister said in a written answer.
