Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi will expand its direct network to 22 Indian cities in August as demand from one of its largest tourism markets continues to grow, a senior executive said.
The airport currently has direct connections to 17 Indian cities.
"We have now, as we speak, 17 cities which are online with Abu Dhabi Airport and in August that number will go from 17 cities to 22, which is already an amazing growth," Abu Dhabi Airports Chief Commercial Officer Carsten Norland said.
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Norland was speaking at a panel discussion in Abu Dhabi held in connection with the launch of new Air India Express flights to the city.
The Tata Group-owned airline this week launched services to Abu Dhabi from Navi Mumbai, Indore and Lucknow. It is also set to begin flights from Guwahati to the Gulf city next month.
"India is a really strong market. The number of passengers coming here from India is growing by more than 20 per cent every year. We are running out of traffic rights," Norland said.
He added that there was strong demand for additional capacity and more destinations.
"So we are ready, we have the capacity, and we can only wait to get more traffic rights so that we can increase the connections between India and Abu Dhabi even more," he said.
IndiGo and Akasa Air are among the other airlines operating flights to Abu Dhabi.
Abu Dhabi Airports operates five airports in the emirate - Zayed International Airport, Al Ain Airport, Al Bateen Executive Airport, Delma Airport and Sir Bani Yas Island Airport.
Norland said Indian passenger traffic totals nearly 7 million annually, accounting for 24% of the airport's overall traffic. Of these, around 5 million are point-to-point travellers, while about 2 million use Abu Dhabi as a transit hub.
Speaking at the panel discussion, Haitham Al Khamis, Director of Tourism Product Development at the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism, described India as one of Abu Dhabi's most important tourism markets and a strategic partner.
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"The relationship is beyond tourism and is built on strong people-to-people ties, business links... Indian diaspora has made Abu Dhabi their second home...," Al Khamis said.
Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi Airports said in a July 2 release that Zayed International Airport handled an average of more than 93,000 passengers and nearly 500 flights a day between June 26 and June 30, connecting travellers to over 100 destinations worldwide.
(With PTI inputs.)
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