Air India to increase Bahrain-Thiruvananthapuram flights

Dubai, Jan 19 (IANS) India's national carrier Air India will increase the frequency of flights from Bahrain to Kerala's capital Thiruvananthapuram from once a week to thrice a week effective Jan 23.

The airline, which currently makes one flight between that Gulf country and Thiruvananthapuram every Tuesday, will operate two more flights every Friday and Saturday, the Gulf Daily News reported.

At the same time, Air India will reduce its flights between Bahrain and Kozhikode in Kerala from six to four a week.

'This is part of our plan to spread out our network, following the merger of Air India with Indian Airlines,' the report quoted Air India's Bahrain country manager Meenakshi Malik as saying.

'Indian Airlines is already operating daily from Bahrain to Kochi and Kozhikode,' she added.

According to the new schedule, on Tuesday the flight will depart Bahrain at 12.55 a.m. and reach Thiruvananthapuram at 7.50 a.m.

On Friday and Saturday, the flight will take off from Bahrain at 11.20 p.m. and land in the Kerala capital at 7.30 a.m. the next day.

There are around 290,000 expatriate Indians in Bahrain and a large number of them hail from Kerala.

As of now, Air India operates 20 flights a week to five destinations in India.