Foreign carriers to introduce direct flights to Bali, Kiev from Mumbai, Delhi

NEW DELHI: Come 2018 and Bali will be a direct flight away from Mumbai, and Ukraine capital Kiev from Delhi. Indian globetrotters will be able to take non-stop flights to a number of new international destinations from next year.

Pradeep Chauhan of Bird Travels, the general sales agent for a number of international airlines, said Vietnamese carrier VietJet will start a direct flight between Delhi and Ho Chi Minh in the summer. Anil Kalsi of the Delhi-based Ambe Travels added that Ukraine International Airlines was launching a Delhi-Kiev non-stop from May, linking the two cities for the first time.

"Indonesian carrier Garuda will start a direct flight from Mumbai to Bali from March 12. It will initially be thrice a week but the frequency will be raised to four from March 26. The airline will deploy its latest Airbus A-330 on the route," Chauhan said. Kuwait's low-cost Jazeera Airways will start direct flights to Ahmedabad and Kochi from January, he added. The airline had recently started flights on the Hyderabad-Kuwait route.


Being the world's fastest growing aviation market, India is on the radar of foreign airlines. But since Mumbai has no free slots and the Delhi airport is also slot-constrained, connectivity from the two aviation mega hubs is now suffering.

Jazeera had sought slots for Mumbai-Kuwait flights but is yet to get them. "Maldivian carrier Mega Maldives wanted to start flights to Delhi and Mumbai from this winter but did not get slots. We hope to get slots in the summer and start those flights," said Chauhan.

Similarly, Polish carrier LOT has been wanting to start flights to Delhi. "We now have open-sky agreements with 20 countries like Greece, Spain, and Serbia, which means the airlines of those countries and India can have any number of flights. We have air service agreements with 118 countries that allow flights between them and India," said a senior aviation ministry official.