30 March 2005

HYDERABAD -- Saudi Arabia Airlines has launched direct flights to the Southern Indian city of Hyderabad.

The Jeddah-Riyadh-Hyderabad flight, which had taken off from Saudi Arabia on Monday night, arrived here yesterday morning, marking the launching of the bi-weekly flights of Saudi Arabia from Hyderabad. The 220 passengers of the first flight were formally received by the State Information Minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir.

Later the same flight left with 115 passengers at 1130am for Jeddah via Riyadh. With this Hyderabad has become the fifth Indian city from where the Saudi Airlines is operating its flight. Earlier the Saudi Airlines had connected Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Cochin to the gulf sector.

The flight from Hyderabad is bi-weekly and it will take off from Hyderabad on every Tuesday and Saturday and from Jeddah on Monday and Friday.

The Director General of Saudi Airlines Khalid A bin Bakar, the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to India Mohammed Saleh Al Ghamdi, and Saudi Consul General Abdul Kareem Al-Hameedi and the state Governor Sushil Kumar Shinde and several other dignitaries attended the function organised to mark the launching of the Saudi airlines flight from Hyderabad.

Speaking on the occasion Dr Khalid Bakar said the airlines is also authorised to provide Umra transit facilities to the international passengers passing through the Kingdom.

Shinde, expressing his happiness over the start of the flights, described it as a historic development. This will not only help the Haj and Umra pilgrims but also bring the two countries together in various sectors including information technology and give a boost to the trade and cooperation.

Coinciding with the launch of the flights, the Saudi Airlines had organised the conference of its managers from the entire Asian region. The airlines officials from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India participated in the conference.

The Saudi Arabia Airlines Manager Mohammed Iftekhar Ahmed said that starting the flight from Hyderabad was extremely important for the airlines as Hyderabad had become a very important and much sought after destination for any airlines.

FROM OMER FAROOQ

© Khaleej Times 2005