New routes in South Asia
New routes in South Asia
November 4th, 2024. A new service from low-cost carrier Flydubai will link the UAE with Bhairahawa* in Lumbini province, close to the Indian border, and Kathmandu. The circular flight, which launches on November 10th, is a codeshare with Emirates Airlines which will allow for a greater choice of connections through Dubai.
Flight number FZ 8639 will depart from Terminal 2 at Dubai International Airport at 08:15 and arrive at Bhairahawa’s Gautam Buddha International Airport at 14:00. It continues at 15:00, with the same flight number, to Kathmandu where it will touch down at 15:45. The flight returns to Dubai at 16:45 where it will arrive at 20:10. The airline will deploy a Boeing 737-800 for the service.
Flydubai also operates direct flights between Dubai and Kathmandu.
*Siddharthanagar has been the official name of the city since 1977 in recognition of its proximity to the birthplace of Buddha. Bhairahawa is its former name and it is still commonly used. The airport is Nepal’s second international gateway.
Colombo to Bengaluru
SriLankan Airlines have bumped up their flights between Colombo and Bengaluru with the addition of a new daytime flight. The new flight operates on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays and increases the number of flights between the two cities to ten per week.
The addition of the new flight is intended to take advantage of Sri Lanka’s popularity as a holiday destination for Bengalureans by offering more convenient time slots for weekend getaways. It also aims to capitalise on the island’s growing popularity as a convention and exhibition destination. The airline’s current daily service, which operates in the wee small hours of the morning, will not be affected.
The new service, flight number UL1173, will take off from Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport at 07:20 and arrive at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru at 08:40. The return leg, flight number UL1174 leaves Bengaluru at 09:40 and arrives back in Colombo at 11:10.
The 90-minute flight is served by an Airbus A320. The airline operates 90 flights a week between India and Sri Lanka linking Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Madurai, Mumbai, Trichy, and Trivandrum as well as Bengaluru.
Picture: Durbar Square, Kathmandu ©David Sutton/themangoroad.com
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