Flydubai has announced at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) new five new destinations, including New Delhi. Building on the momentum from last year, when 17 new destinations where added to the network, the airline has cemented its commitment to enhance connectivity between different cultures by doubling its network in India with the addition of flights to Delhi, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. Kazakhstan will join flydubai's network for the first time and flights will launch later this year to two destinations Almaty and Shymkent. “As flydubai approaches its fifth year of operation it has created a network of 74 destinations in 35 countries. Today's route announcements are a clear demonstration of the important role we are playing in the development of the tourism industry and there remains much opportunity," said Ghaith Al-Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer of flydubai. "Our commitment to further strengthen the trade, travel and tourism links in the region by opening up previously underserved markets supports The Dubai Tourism Vision 2020.” Flydubai's rapid expansion plans continue to focus on destinations within a five hour flying radius from Dubai. Delhi, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram join Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Lucknow to make India the third largest country that flydubai operates to by number of points. “We are delighted to be given the opportunity to better serve the Indian market. India has always been an important market for flydubai," Sudhir Sreedharan, Senior Vice President Commercial (GCC, Subcontinent, Africa) for flydubai said. "Since the start of our operations in 2010, flydubai's main priority has been to offer passengers convenient and reliable travel services and an unrivalled onboard experience.” Another market that has become important to flydubai's network is Russia and last year flydubai doubled its network to eight points. flydubai has now become the largest operator out of the UAE to Russia by the number of destinations since it marked its first entry to the market in 2010 with the start of flights to Samara and Yekaterinburg. “With flydubai's daily direct flights to Moscow scheduled to start in September 2014, I am pleased to announce that our flights will operate to Vnukovo International Airport and flights are now available for sale," said Jeyhun Efendi, Senior Vice President Commercial (UAE, EU, ME, CIS) for flydubai. "Moreover, our flights to Kazakhstan will give passengers more opportunity to discover this market which offers great potential for trade and tourism,” added Efendi. This bring the total number of new destinations flydubai announced since the start of the year to nine. Hofuf in Saudi Arabia, Moscow in Russia, Aden in Yemen and Kandahar in Afghanistan were the latest additions to the airline's expanding network. Flydubai will operate daily flights between Dubai and Moscow starting from September 23 this year. Economy Class return fares to Moscow will start at AED1,800 with 20kg checked-in baggage, while Business Class fares will start at AED6,500 and are inclusive of all taxes and 40kg checked-in baggage. — SG
