B'luru airport to see 17% more overseas flights this winters

Bengaluru: The city’s Kempegowda International Airport will see 17 per cent more overseas flights this winter as three domestic carriers including national carrier Air India are set to scale up their international operations from here, BIAL said Friday.

Budget carriers IndiGo and GoAir besides Air India will launch additional flights from Bengaluru to eight existing international destinations during the period between this October and March next year, the Bangalore International Airport (BIAL) said in a statement.

BIAL is the joint venture company that manages and operates the country’s third largest airport. It is majorly owned by India-born Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa’s Fairfax.

While, according to the statement, IndiGo will operate daily flights to Male, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Kathmandu, Air India is set to commence services to Bangkok and London from the Bengaluru airport.

Wadia group-promoted GoAir, which commenced its international operations this month, will also connect Bengaluru with Phuket in Thailand during the winter schedule. Besides, Air India Express will launch a round-trip flight to Singapore from Bengaluru, flying four times a week, from October 29, BIAL said.

Airlines’ winter schedule in India this year will commence from Saturday mid-night and will go on till March 30 next year.

“Resurgent growth translates into the need for new routes and the addition of aircraft to the existing base. We will continue to work with our airline partners to offer passengers attractive routes that connect Bengaluru to some of the most exotic destinations in India and abroad,” said Javed Malik, chief operating officer, BIAL.

On the domestic side, no-frills carrier SpiceJet have plans to connect Kanpur, Gorakhpur and Udaipur with the city, while peer IndiGo has also announced its plans to fly to Udaipur and Prayagraj (erstwhile Allahabad) from the Bengaluru airport, the statement said.

Also, Jet Airways will operate flight services from Bengaluru to Aizawl through Guwahati and Air India’s regional arm, Alliance Air, is connecting Kolhapur from here during the winters, BIAL said.

In all, flight operations from the Bengaluru airport will be extended to seven new routes, while two new airlines 

Air India Express and Turkish Cargo – will be starting their operations from here during the coming winter, it said.

With this, Bengaluru will now connect to 82 destinations 53 domestic and 29 international, it added.

BIAL expects the Bengaluru airport to achieve about 744 aircraft movements per day (659 domestic, 85 international) at the start of winter this year.

This is expected to progressively achieve 766 ATMs (air traffic movement) per day (675 domestic and 91 international), it added.

The airport operator expects the average international ATMs for winter 2018-19 to grow at 17 per cent over summer 2018, while domestic movements are expected to achieve a growth of 10 per cent.

The overall growth forecast for the forthcoming schedule is pegged at 11 per cent, it said.