Air India Express Becomes the First Carrier to Connect Chennai to Dammam

Air India Express, the low-cost subsidiary of Tata Group has started flights connecting Chennai to Dammam. This flight is the only scheduled connection between Chennai and Saudi Arabia. Amid the decreasing number of international flights, this comes as a piece of positive news for the largest airport in Tamil Nadu.

Air India Express: Chennai to Dammam

On June 1, Air India Express launched a non-stop service connecting Chennai International Airport (MAA) to Dammam King Fahd International Airport (DMM). The inaugural flight was operated using a Boeing 737-800 registered as VT-GHI. Unfortunately, the maiden flight was delayed by almost 2 hours because of a delay in incoming aircraft.

From now on, Air India Express will be operating two times a week on this route. Flights will be operational on Saturdays and Tuesdays with the arrival of the return flight scheduled in the early morning of the next day. Here is a quick look at the flight timings:

For Chennai Airport, this is the only Saudi Arabian connection. Currently, Flyadeal is operating Hajj flights between Chennai and Jeddah. With the operational seizure of Air France and flyDubai at Chennai Airport, this addition from Air India Express comes as a positive development.

In 2023, IndiGo launched services on this route. It started daily Airbus A320 flights on 13 June 2023. But in September, it suspended this service. The last flight 6E78 from Dammam to Chennai was operated on 15 September 2023.

Air India Express Dammam & Saudia Network

Air India Express connects India with three cities in Saudi Arabia. First of all, let us talk about its Dammam network.

Chennai is the 9th city to be added to the Dammam network map of AI Express. Besides Chennai, Air India Express connects DMM to 8 other cities as follows: Kochi, Hyderabad, Kannur, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Mangalore, Mumbai, and Trivandrum. From 9 Indian cities, it operates 42 times a week to Dammam.

It connects Riyadh to four Indian cities, namely Kochi, Hyderabad, Kannur, and Kozhikode. Jointly, it operates 13 times a week between India and Riyadh. The mainline carrier, Air India connects Delhi to Dammam, while Vistara connects Mumbai to Dammam.

Conclusion

Air India Express has started operations on the Chennai to Dammam route, on which IndiGo failed to sustain operations. The airline will operate two times a week with the Boeing 737-800 fleet. Chennai becomes the 9th city to be connected to Dammam by AI Express.

What do you think about this new Saudi connection of Air India Express? Discuss in the comment section.