Tag Archives: Doha

India has steadily increased the number of overseas city pairs served by a non-stop service from the country over time, according to a recent study by International Air Transport Association (IATA). There are 304 such international pairs in 2018, up from around 230 ten years ago. In relative terms, the India market appears to have considerably less international city pairs served than either China or Russia. However, Indian travellers have ready access (via the geographic proximity) to the Middle East superconnector hubs – Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha – that China and Russia do not. This increases the size of the network significantly for Indian travellers, as well as making India more accessible for international visitors. As such, it may go some way to explaining the relatively lower number of international city pairs for India relative to China and Russia.

EbixCash World Money airport forex counters has been inaugurated at the arrival and departure terminals at Kannur International Airport in the presence of Minister of Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu; Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan; Minister of Industries, Sports and Youth Affairs, EP Jayarajan; Minister of Ports, Kadakampally Surendran; Minister of Transport, AK Saseendran; Minister of Water Resources, K Krishnankutty; and KIAL MD, V Thulasidas among other senior central and state government officials, and industry leaders. EbixCash World Money will offer passengers flying in and out of the city, foreign exchange at competitive rates along with a host of other products such as travellers’ cheques, multi-currency prepaid cards and travel insurance. Commenting on the launch, T C Guruprasad, Managing Director, EbixCash WorldMoney said, “Kannur is a fast-growing business and tourism destination with Wayanad and Coorg being in close proximity. Besides being the district headquarters, it offers a mix of beaches, forts and museums. A large number of international flights also offer direct connectivity from Middle East destinations such as Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Muscat, Riyadh, Doha and Kuwait, making it a strategic location for us to offer our forex and travel services. We currently have six branches and nine airport forex counters in Kerala.” Spread about 2,000 acres, the Kannur Airport is the newest addition to India’s international airport portfolio. The airport is expected to serve more than one million passengers annually with passenger traffic estimated to increase five-fold by 2025.    

Beginning December 2018, Jet Airways will introduce 18 additional flights on select destinations such as Bangkok, Kathmandu and Singapore in ASEAN as well as Doha and Dubai in the Gulf. Further, it will soon add a third daily frequency to Bangkok and Singapore each from Delhi and a third daily service to Singapore from Mumbai. Additional frequencies will also be introduced to the Gulf, strengthening the airline’s status as one of the largest carriers to/ from the region. December will see the introduction of second daily services connecting Mumbai and Delhi with Doha respectively. The addition of a seventh daily frequency between Mumbai and Dubai will also make Jet Airways the only airline to offer unparalleled 24-hour connectivity to the Gulf’s favourite destination with maximum number of daily services. Apart from it, the carrier will offer a fourth daily frequency between Delhi and Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. Jet Airways also continues to augment its domestic connectivity at these hubs, and will increase operations between Mumbai and Amritsar to daily frequencies, and add a fourth daily frequency on the Delhi-Amritsar route in December. These steps are in addition to new services already introduced at the beginning of winter schedule, including new flights on the Delhi & Bangalore-Vadodara routes, increased frequencies in the Mumbai-Guwahati and Mumbai-Patna markets and an enhancement of capacity from ATR to 737 operations on the Delhi-Jodhpur route. Raj Sivakumar, Senior Vice President – Worldwide Sales & Distribution, Jet Airways, said, “The strategy will enable Jet Airways to offer extensive connectivity via Mumbai to most of its network in south and west India. Similarly, new services to Delhi will offer seamless connectivity to the north and east of …

Citizens of India can now be granted a visa waiver for a period of 30 days on their arrival in Qatar, upon certain conditions. The passenger’s passport must be valid for at least six months and must have a confirmed return ticket. He/she must have a valid credit card. (For a family travelling together, the card must be in the name of the passenger or one per family). Passengers should also provide a confirmed hotel reservation.

In response to Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt and Bahrain breaking diplomatic ties with Qatar over alleged terror links, Qatar Airlines has suspended all flights to these nations until further notice. All customers booked on affected flights will be provided with alternative options, including the option of a full refund on any unused tickets and free rebooking to the nearest alternative Qatar Airways network destination. An official document from Qatar Airways addressed most of the concerns that travellers might be having currently. The document mentioned that in case passengers have booked tickets from Qatar on any other airline, the respective airline would rebook the tickets for these passengers. On the other hand, passengers holding confirmed and ticketed Qatar Airways tickets will be re-accommodated according to availability on other carriers at the time of re-issuance as per the IATA Regulations. However, there is not disruption in flights to Europe and US, and passengers on transit from Qatar also remain unaffected.

From the morning of 5 June 2017, Etihad Airways has suspended all flights to and from Doha until further notice. The last flight from Abu Dhabi to Doha departed as EY399 at 02:45 (local time) on June 5. The last flight from Doha to Abu Dhabi will depart as EY390 at 04:00 (local time) on June 5. Refund is permitted free of charge whether the ticket is wholly unutilized or partially utilized as long as there are travel segments on/after 5 June, which are impacted by this cancellation. Refund on partially utilized ticket must be calculated based upon pro-rata mileage flown Guests may contact their travel agent through whom the original ticket was purchased or any Etihad office to process the refund.

As instructed by the UAE government, Emirates will suspend its flights to and from Doha, starting from the morning of 6 June 2017, until further notice. The last flight from Dubai to Doha will depart as EK847 at 02:30am on 6 June. The last flight from Doha to Dubai will depart as EK848 at 03:50am on 6 June, according to an Emirates spokesperson. Emirates’ flights to and from Doha today (5 June), will operate as normal. Travellers bound for Doha, who are boarding their flight from airports around the Emirates network today (5 June), will be advised to make alternative arrangements. All customers booked on Emirates’ flights to and from Doha will be provided with alternative options, including full refunds on unused tickets and free rebooking to the nearest alternate Emirates destinations.

Strengthening its position in the Middle East, IndiGo has introduced its first daily non-stop flight connecting Doha to Delhi and Mumbai. Doha is IndiGo’s 7th international and 46th overall destination. With Doha as a new destination, IndiGo is all set to enhance connectivity between India and the Gulf region after Dubai, Muscat and Sharjah. The introduction of direct flights connecting Doha to New Delhi and Mumbai will open more convenient travel options for business and leisure travellers including the Indian expatriates based in Middle East. Aditya Ghosh, President and Whole Time Director, IndiGo said, “Being an economic and cultural hub of Qatar, Doha attracts a lot of business and leisure tourists. Adding Doha on our network is in line with our growth strategy and more so for the Middle East. IndiGo has established itself as a preferred carrier on India-Gulf routes. We are hopeful that this daily service would also prove equally popular with our flyers.”