flydubai has signed interline agreements with Air India and Uzbekistan Airways, opening up access to more than 80 additional destinations across Asia, Australia and Europe — and pushing the Dubai-based carrier’s total interline network to 46 partner airlines.
The deals let flydubai passengers book single-ticket itineraries with through-checked baggage onto both airlines’ route networks, while giving Air India and Uzbekistan Airways customers the same reciprocal access to flydubai’s network via Dubai.
The reach is substantial on both sides. Through Air India, flydubai passengers gain connections to Indian cities including Bengaluru, Chennai, Jaipur, Pune and Varanasi, alongside international points such as Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. Uzbekistan Airways, meanwhile, opens up connectivity via Tashkent to Russian cities including Moscow, European gateways such as Frankfurt, London and Paris, and domestic Uzbek destinations including Bukhara and Fergana.
flydubai CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith framed the tie-ups as part of the airline’s broader network expansion strategy, noting that Air India brings South Asia, Southeast Asia and Australian markets within reach, while Uzbekistan Airways adds a corridor through Central Asia, Russia and into Europe. Air India’s chief commercial officer, Nipun Aggarwal, said the partnership would strengthen the carrier’s access to Middle East markets via Dubai, and Uzbekistan Airways chairman Shukhrat Khudaykulov said the agreement would make international travel more convenient for passengers of both carriers.
The announcement continues a pattern for flydubai. Since launching operations in 2009, the airline has built a network of more than 120 direct destinations, opening over 100 routes to markets that previously had no direct air link to Dubai. Layer in interline and codeshare partnerships, and flydubai now offers access to more than 300 destinations worldwide — a figure that keeps climbing as the carrier adds partners like these to its roster.
For a mid-sized carrier competing against much larger Gulf rivals, this is the playbook: rather than building out every long-haul route itself, flydubai is stitching together reach through partnerships — turning Dubai into more of a connecting hub for markets it doesn’t fly to directly.