Etihad Airways has announced plans to launch a third daily flight on the Abu Dhabi–Bengaluru route, starting from March 26.

The triple daily schedule will provide greater choice to local passengers travelling between the two cities, and improved connectivity to destinations across the GCC, North America and Europe via the airline’s Abu Dhabi hub.

The capacity increase underscores the airline’s commitment to offer guests more travel options between Abu Dhabi and key destinations across its network.

With a new daily late night departure from Abu Dhabi, and early morning service from Bengaluru operated with a two-class Airbus 321, the schedule provides additional online connectivity to and from a number of destinations, including Doha, Jeddah, London, Dublin, New York and Dallas.

Peter Baumgartner, Etihad Airways chief executive officer, said: “Our expanded services between Abu Dhabi and Bengaluru are in line with Etihad Airways’ strategy to offer greater travel options when aircraft availability and market conditions permit.

“The extra flights to Bengaluru will cater to the strong demand between both cities, and bring closer our global network to and from Bengaluru over our Abu Dhabi hub.”

Etihad Airways launched flights to Bengaluru, capital of the southern Indian state of Karnataka, in January 2011 with four services a week, rising to daily two months later. It has steadily grown capacity with additional frequencies and aircraft upgrades to its current double daily operation. More than 700,000 guests have been flown on the route over the past six years.

Partner carrier Jet Airways will codeshare on Etihad Airways’ enhanced Bengaluru services, and also offer connectivity from Bengaluru to destinations across India. - TradeArabia News Service