India Express is starting its first ever service from the Kingdom in mid-April. According to officials, the new service will be from Dammam to Mangalore with Trivandrum in Kerala as the final destination. Air-India Express initially will have three services a week, i.e. on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Boeing 737 – 800 flights will be flying in this sector. So far there has been no direct service from Eastern Province to Mangalore. Most of the Mangaloreans travel from Bahrain or take a connecting flight from Mumbai. Mangaloreans in EP are quite happy about the new announcement of Air-India Express. “This was a service that I've been looking forward to since a long time. Since I live in Bajpe, the city where the airport is located, traveling back home will be hurdle free,” said Moosa, a Mangalorean residing in Dammam. “We Mangaloreans have been waiting quite a while now for such a service. Every time we travel from Bahrain or we get a connection flight from Mumbai and it is quite difficult like that. Now hopefully traveling back home will be easier, at least I hope so,” said yet another Mangalorean woman who lives in Dammam. Air-India Express is a low cost airline subsidiary of Air-India, based in Mumbai and operates mainly to Middle East with main base at Cochin International Airport and a hub at Trivandrum International Airport in Kerala.
