Dubai, Sep 3 (IANS) Leading Indian private airline Jet Airways has announced the launch of daily flights between Oman’s capital Muscat and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala from Sep 15.The new service will complement the airline’s already existing Muscat-Mumbai service, a Jet statement issued here Wednesday said.

“In a bid to further enhance its connectivity on this (Gulf) sector, and in line with passenger demand, the airline is proud to be the first private India-based international airline to connect Muscat and Thiruvananthapuram,” Jet chief executive Wolfgang Prock-Schauer said.

A large number of the 500,000-strong expatriate Indian population in Oman hails from Kerala.

According to the new schedule, Jet’s flight will depart Muscat at 12:30 a.m. and arrive in Thiruvananthapuram at 5:35 a.m. local time.

On the return leg, the flight will take off from Thiruvananthapuram at 7:55 a.m. and land at Muscat at 10:30 a.m.

With the launch of this new flight, the airline will fly from six destinations in the Gulf - Kuwait, Bahrain, Muscat, Doha, Abu Dhabi and Dubai - to five gateway points in India - Kozhikode, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Mumbai and Delhi.

Jet launched its inaugural flights to the Gulf in January this year.