JEDDAH, 29 January — Air-India (A-I) has drawn up plans to increase its nonstop frequency from Jeddah to Calicut to twice a week possibly from April 1. The airline is also introducing its once a week nonstop flight to Lucknow from the Red Sea port city. It currently operates nonstop flights once a week to Calicut and Hyderabad from Jeddah. “We’re working hard to get the new nonstop frequencies introduced to meet growing local needs,” S.M. Mazharullah, A-I’s Western Province manager, told Arab News. The airline, which is currently busy transporting pilgrims from India’s various points for the upcoming Haj, operates weekly 22 flights to Saudi Arabia — eight each to Jeddah and Dhahran, and six to Riyadh. Five of its flights from Jeddah are for Bombay, and one each nonstop to Delhi, Calicut and Hyderabad. While introducing nonstop flights to Indian destinations, India’s national carrier has for the first time introduced computerized reservation terminals (CRTs) — two in Makkah and one each in Madinah and at the Consulate General of India. The CRTs, connected to the carrier’s central reservation system in Bombay, are aimed at enabling incoming Haj pilgrims to change their return bookings on the spot if needed. These control cells functioning round-the-clock are all manned by staff who are not only well trained to carry out functions of reservations, ticketing and airport handling, but also sensitive to the needs of the pilgrims. This is one of the new systems introduced and many others improved to ensure that pilgrims have a smooth journey with maximum comfort. Both Saudi Arabian Airlines and A-I are transporting nearly 70,000 pilgrims coming through the Central Haj Committee to Jeddah from 10 Indian cities. They started coming from Jan. 15 — the day the Haj Terminal opened for the season. Incidentally A-I’s Haj flight from Calicut was the first to land at the terminal on that day.
