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Jet Airways on Thursday became the first private airline to launch international service from Mangalore International Airport when its  Boeing 737-800 took off to Dubai on Thursday night.

Flight 9W 532 departed from the Mangalore airport with full capacity of 170 passengers in economy seats. The flight between Mangalore and Dubai is three and half hours. The entry of Jet Airways international flight is expected to give a tough competition to the Air India flights, which has been operating aircraft in the sector.

Addressing media persons prior to the departure of the flight, company Vice-president (Commercial) Gaurang Shetty said that Jet Airways was happy to be the first private carrier to start international operation at Mangalore Airport.

Mangalore was among the first three destinations Jet Airways had commenced services when it was launched 20 years ago.

“Mangalore has a huge air traffic and has great number of passengers traveling to Dubai, hence the idea to fly aircraft from Mangalore to Dubai seemed viable.

The Indian government too has been allowing the domestic private carriers to fly more on international routes. The Mangalore-Dubai operation has been taken up after the successful bilateral agreement between the two countries.

The flight will further help strengthen the air connectivity from the Tier II Indian destinations into the Gulf,” he said.The new flight will operate six days a week except on Saturdays.

Jet Airways is offering an inaugural economy class return fare of Rs 20,360 on the Mangalore-Dubai-Mangalore route and the offer is valid till March 31. The one-way fare ex-India is Rs 10,101. The passengers can avail benefits like flight entertainment and meals.

Day return flight

Asked about the airways plans to introduce new flights on other international routes from Mangalore, Gaurang Shetty said that the company is aware of the demand to start services to Gulf countries. Though Jet Airways is keen on providing additional services, the decision will be taken considering the aircraft operation and business viabilities.

Taking note of the increasing demand for day return flights between Mangalore and Mumbai, Jet Airways will introduce day return flight from Friday. The flight will leave Mangalore  in the morning and depart from Mumbai in the evening.