Air Sahara announces 14 new routes

NEW DELHI: Air Sahara, whose ranking took a hit after a failed takeover deal, on Thursday announced operations to 14 new destinations including two international routes by December as part of plans to have a market share of 12-13 per cent by next year.

 "The expansion plan begins from tomorrow and will continue till December 16. During this time, we would be introducing flights to Guanghou (China) and Maldives on the international sector and would connect Delhi with Port Blair," Air Sahara President Alok Sharma told reporters here.

Admitting that the market share had dipped in the recent times, Sharma said with the addition of new destinations, the airlines was aiming to regain its earlier share of 12-13 per cent by next year.

He said the airlines would be operating a daily flight to Maldives through Colombo, besides connecting Dhaka as well on the international sector and strengthening its metro network by increasing flights to Kolkata and Hyderabad.

With this expansion plan, Air Sahara would be connecting Delhi to six international destinations in addition to its code-share flights with American Airlines, Sharma said.

Asked whether the permission had been granted by the authorities concerned, Sharma said it had applied for approvals three weeks back and there was no restrictions from
the Government.

While the tentative schedule to fly to the Chinese city was November seven, it was October 31 for Maldives, he said.

Air Sahara would also apply for Pak routes once Pakistan allowed operations of private airliners.