Overview
- Abu Dhabi tourism officials say the emirate welcomed more than 436,000 Indian visitors in the past year, a 32% year‑on‑year rise, and Abu Dhabi Airports reports India traffic totals near 7 million passengers or about 24% of its volume.
- Zayed International Airport will increase direct connections from 17 to 22 Indian cities in August and Air India Express launched new services to Navi Mumbai, Indore and Lucknow in mid‑July.
- Air India Express has rapidly expanded its fleet from about 25 aircraft before privatization to roughly 100 now and says further deliveries will begin later this year to support planned network growth.
- Abu Dhabi Airports says passenger demand from India is growing more than 20% a year and that the main limit on adding more flights is a shortage of available traffic rights from regulators.
- The city is promoting heritage, luxury and family experiences to attract longer stays and VFR travellers, which could boost hotel and retail revenue and make Abu Dhabi a larger regional transit hub for India‑Gulf travel.