RIYADH: Low-cost Saudi airline flynas has announced the launch of new direct flights from Riyadh and Dammam to Mumbai as the Kingdom’s aviation sector continues to expand. flynas will operate flights from Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport to Mumbai beginning Oct. 20, and flights from Dammam’s King Fahd International Airport will start from Oct. 31, according to a press release. The flights will be available on Saturdays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Earlier this year, during an exclusive interview with Arab News, CEO of flynas Bander Al-Mohanna said the strategic goal of the airline is to connect the world to the Kingdom to contribute to realizing the civil aviation strategic plan and achieving the goals of Saudi Vision 2030. According to the civil aviation strategic plan, the Kingdom is aiming for 330 million passengers annually and 250 destinations around the world by 2030. flynas recently announced the resumption of its direct flights between Jeddah and Karachi, starting from Oct. 30, with three weekly flights, on Saturdays, Sundays and Tuesdays. The press release noted that flynas has succeeded in increasing the number of aircraft to 38 in June 2022 compared to 25 in January 2021. The low-cost airline also witnessed a surge in passenger traffic, as it carried about 4 million passengers during the first half of 2022 up from about 1.8 million in the same period last year. Currently, flynas has more than 70 domestic and international destinations, and since its establishment in 2007, the airline has transported more than 60 million passengers.