Dammam, Apr 3: More than two hours after the maiden direct flight from Mangalore landed in Saudi Arabia, the return Air India Express flight IX 386 took off from Dammam international Airport at 8:30 p.m. local time on Wednesday.
There was a jubilant atmosphere at the airport, as Mangaloreans in Dammam were excited about the launch of direct flight service between two destinations.
Air India Express held a ceremony at Dammam International Airport to mark the commencement of the new flight service.
The inaugural flight from Dammam to Mangalore was flagged off by Engineer Khalid K Almlzel, Director General, General Authority of Civil Aviation, KFIA, in the presence of Rinchen Tshering, Country Manager Saudi Arabia for Air India, Manager Passenger Service Fawaz S Al Furaikh, Public Relation Manager Al Abbasi, officials of Air India Express such as Sukumar Bangera, A G Parker, Prem V Devjee along with other senior officials connected with the airport operations.
Khalid K Almzel gave the first boarding card to first passenger Sayed Mohammed and family.
Coastaldigest.com distributed gift to the outgoing passengers. Coastaldigest.com representatives Mohammed Althaf and Ifthikar Ahmed among others were present.
The launch of Mangalore-Saudi direct flight is also a milestone for Air India Express which was set up in 2005 with aircraft as a LCC model to provide cheap and efficient point-to-point services connecting the interior points in India with countries having predominantly Indian expatriate workforce. Now Air India Express operates with 21 B737-800 aircraft to all neighbouring countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Srilanka besides all middle east countries.
Air India Express made its foray into Saudi Arabia in 2011 to cater to the demand of predominantly expatriate and now April 3 becomes another important date for Air India Express as it meets the long pending demand of a service to Mangalore. The flight has been well received and the first flight IX386 of April 3 completely sold out, a release said.
Related:
Maiden direct flight from Mangalore lands at Dammam Airport
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