Indian travellers will be offered a series of new one-stop connections to Saudi Arabia, following the signing of a codeshare agreement between Etihad Airways and low-cost carrier flynas.

The deal will enable flynas to add seven new Indian destinations to its route map, as it places its ‘XY’ code on Etihad’s services from Abu Dhabi to Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi and Kozhikode.

flynas currently operates 18 weekly flights to Abu Dhabi from the Saudi cities of Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam.

“We began 2017 by launching a number of new domestic flights, and now we are expanding our list of international destinations through our partnerships in order to meet the needs of our passengers,” explained Bandar Al-Muhanna, CEO of NAS Holding, the parent company of flynas.

“I am confident that these new destinations will prove hugely popular with a large segment of people who need more access to flights between Saudi Arabia and a number of key destinations in India.”

Specifically, flynas said it was targeting the “large number of [Indian] expatriates in Saudi Arabia”, who will be offered 30kg of baggage per passenger.

The Indian deal forms as part of an expanded codeshare agreement between flynas and Etihad, initially signed in October 2012.