Saudi Arabia’s national flag carrier Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) has resumed services to Calicut, Kerala, starting Dec. 5.
The carrier relaunched services to the South Indian state after a period of three-and-a-half years, when the airline stopped services in May 2015 because of runway restrictions of wide-body aircraft due to runway re-carpeting.
The airline first launched services to Calicut in March 2009.
The airline will operate non-stop services from both Jeddah and Riyadh to Calicut on a split schedule — three flights a week from Riyadh, and four flights from Jeddah.
A wide-body Airbus A330-300 in a two-class configuration — economy and business — will be operated on the route, with 36 seats in business class and 262 seats in economy class.
The total journey time is approximately five hours and thirty minutes.
“With this operation Saudia will further strengthen the already strong relations between the two friendly countries. Saudia is the main carrier for Hajj and Umrah passengers between India and Saudi Arabia,” the airline said.
With the resumption of the Calicut route, Saudia flies to a total of nine points in India: Bangalore, Calicut, Chennai, Cochin, Mumbai, Trivandrum, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Lucknow.
Altogether the airline operates 65 flights per week between Saudi Arabia and India.
Saudia launched its latest route in India last year to Trivandrum on Oct. 1, 2017.
The direct flights also add flexibility and convenience for Indian expatriates who are currently employed in the Kingdom, and for international travelers transiting with Saudia to reach one of the Indian cities the carrier operates to.
The carrier currently flies to more than 94 destinations worldwide, with a modern, mixed fleet of 155 narrow and wide-body aircraft. The fleet is set to grow to more than 200 aircraft by 2020.
