New Delhi, Sep 8 (Representative) With demand for air travel expected to rise in the run-up to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Tata Group-owned Air India on Thursday announced the launch of 20 new flights per week to the Gulf country from key Indian cities. “The added capacity will cater to the surge in demand expected around the football extravaganza in Qatar scheduled in November and December 2022. The flights, to be introduced from October 30, will connect Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai with Qatar’s capital Doha during this period,” the airline said in a statement. As many as 13 flights per week will operate from Mumbai, four from Hyderabad and three from Chennai. These flights will be in addition to the existing daily flights to Doha from Delhi. The additional connectivity to Qatar follows Air India’s increase of 14 new flights on its domestic network last month.
The FIFA World Cup is scheduled to commence on November 20 with the host country Qatar playing with Ecuador in the opening match of the event. Commenting on the introduction of new flights for Qatar, Nipun Aggarwal, Chief Commercial Officer, Air India, said, “Bringing in the football extravaganza in this part of the world, Air India aims to provide strong connectivity between India and Qatar. Football fans across India are excited to be in the stadiums in Qatar where the world’s best football talent will be competing with each other.”He further said the airline’s flight schedule has been planned to make the entire travel experience convenient and seamless. “Over the past few months, we have been working closely with our partners to return aircraft to service which has resulted in these additional flights,” Aggarwal said.