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A NEW low cost airline has joined the race to woo travellers with cut-price fares from Bahrain to Dubai and back.
Boasting the motto 'uncomplicated, low fare travel' flydubai, the emirate's first low cost airline, celebrated its inaugural flight to the kingdom on Sunday morning.
But in a random price survey by GulfWeekly's consumer reporter Shilpa Chandran of three low cost airlines and the kingdom's national carrier ... Gulf Air came out cheapest!
A return ticket with the newcomer came out as BD59, rivals Jazeera Airways one dinar more, Bahrain Air at BD80.800 and Gulf Air just BD52.700.
We conducted the online research on Sunday for travelling between December 15 and 20.
Despite the rivalry between airlines flydubai believes it can make its mark with travellers.
CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith said: "Bahrain is extremely important to intra-GCC trade. For many businesses, the kingdom represents significant opportunities and with flydubai's new service, they will have more options to visit and assess those opportunities.
"We are confident that this will be a very successful route and also further strengthen the ties between Bahrain and Dubai."
The kingdom becomes the airline's 10th destination in just six months of its introduction.
Customers will be able to choose from two daily flights leaving Bahrain International Airport at 8.15am and 9.05pm arriving at the Dubai International Airport Terminal 2 at 10.25am and 11.15pm respectively.
Simultaneously, the flights will depart from Dubai at 7.15am and 8.05pm daily reaching Bahrain at 7.30am and 8.20pm respectively.
Rates for the airline begin at BD23 for one way, which is inclusive of all taxes and one piece of hand baggage weighing up to 10kg.
Passengers have the option to purchase checked-baggage in advance for BD4 for the first piece and BD11 for the second, weighing up to 32kg and subject to availability.
As checked baggage will be strictly subject to availability as well, customers are advised to book online early to secure the space.
Customers can select their seats for a nominal fee of BD1 and pay BD5 for extra leg space. Other charges include fees for changing bookings as well as food and drink whilst on board.
The airline's nine operational routes include Beirut, Amman, Damascus, Aleppo, Alexandria, Djibouti, Doha, Khartoum and Baku, while the 11th destination was launched yesterday to Nepal. Tickets can be booked on www.flydubai.com
