Flydubai Hits Turbulence on Planned Service to Indian City

Dubai: Dubai’s start-up budget airline flydubai suffered its first operational glitch in an otherwise smooth rollout of new flights, acknowledging on Sunday that it was still trying to work out “the final few pieces” of the service it plans to launch later this month to Chandigarh, India.
Flydubai had expected its flights to the city to arrive there at around 11pm and take off again before midnight. However, Indian media reported that the Indian Air Force, which controls the airport at Chandigarh, had refused it permission to do so.
“Flydubai has been granted the rights to fly to Chandigarh based on the agreement between the governments of India and the UAE,” the company’s Chief Executive Officer Ghait Al Ghaith said in a statement responding to the reports.
Indian media suggested that India’s Civil Aviation Ministry, which regulates passenger flights in that country, was unable to persuade the air force, or IAF, to let flydubai schedule late-night flights. The Times of India reported that the IAF does not allow civilian planes to operate at Chandigarh after 10pm.
Flydubai’s service to Chandigarh is set to start on July 23, and the carrier has already made tickets available for sale on its Web site.
06/07/09 Abdul Basit/KhaleejTimes

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Categories: Airports Jul 2009, Foreign Jul 2009