Dubai’s new low cost carrier gave all passengers a refund after they were forced to postpone plans to begin new flights to India.   The airline had previously requested permission to fly to Coimbatore, Chandigarh, and Lucknow beginning in mid-July, but this has been delayed for operational reasons.   A flydubai spokesman said “We have refunded all passengers who had booked flights to India with us and we sent them all a voucher for a free flight to anywhere on our network as a gesture because of the inconvenience.”

According to recent reports in India media, authorities were concerned about the effect flydubai’s low cost service would have on Air India Express operations for the Middle East.  Fly Dubai did not comment about the reason for the delay but said India is still an important market and they plan to serve the country. The carrier had planned to serve between 14 and 16 destinations by the end of 2009.