Dubai’s low-cost carrier Flydubai will start flights to Lucknow in India from 2 June, following an 11-month delay.

The new route is Flydubai’s first into India and one of seven new routes to be launched this year.

Flydubai first announced plans to fly to India last year when operations were scheduled to start to three cities in the country in July 2009. These cities included Lucknow, Coimbatore and Chandigarh (MEED 29:6:09).

The launch, however, of the new routes was put on hold, according to a spokeswoman for Flydubai.

The airline hopes to further expand its network in India and will remain in discussions with the Indian authorities, the spokeswoman tells MEED.

The addition of Lucknow brings the carrier’s total number of destinations to 20.

About five million Indian nationals live and work in the Gulf region.

The carrier will start flights to Kabul from 17 May, Luxor from 19 May and Assiut from 24 May, Istanbul from 17 June, Latakia from 20 June and Karachi from 21 June.