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BY OUR AVIATION CORRESPONDENT
6 July, 2005: The Indian state-owned airline Air-India is launching fourteen additional flights starting this July 7, 2005. This
would mean that the airline will be flying 47 additional flights a week to these cities.
several of the new flights services will be non-stop (mostly from Mumbai) and the rest will provide connectivity between different countries in South East Asia. Seoul will be a new destination on Air-India's network.
Mumbai will now be connected with non-stop flights to Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. While capacity has been doubled on the India-Shanghai sector effective May 2005, flights to Osaka will increase from two to three.
16 Singapore flights a week
As per the new schedule, Air-India will now have 16 flights a week to and from Singapore, a destination it has served for over 50 years, with non-stop services from four Indian cities, viz. Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad. While seven flights will link Chennai with Singapore, four flights will be operated from Delhi. Five services a week will be operated from Mumbai every week. Of these, three flights on Mondays, Wednesdays and Sundays, will be non-stop and extended to connect Jakarta. The other two flights will be routed via
Hyderabad.
13 Kuala Lumpur flights a week
Air-India will also increase frequency of services to Kuala Lumpur. There will be 13 flights a week – seven from Chennai and three non-stop flights each from Mumbai and Delhi. The flights from Mumbai and Delhi to Kuala Lumpur will be operated with standardised timings on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.
Air-India will also continue to operate 18 code share flights per week with Malaysia Airlines -- 13 on the Mumbai/Bangalore/Hyderabad-Kuala Lumpur sector and five on the Kuala Lumpur-Los Angeles sector.
12 Hong Kong flights a week
Air-India will double its services to Hong Kong. As against five services presently being operated, the number of flights will be increased to 12. There will be five services from Mumbai to Hong Kong via Bangkok on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Seven additional flights will be operated to Hong Kong from Mumbai via Delhi, with three services extended to Osaka and four flights to Seoul. Thus, passengers will be able to travel by Air-India from Hong Kong to Bangkok, Osaka and Seoul.
With the introduction of the additional flights to Hong Kong, there will be flights departing from Mumbai every evening at 2025 hours. Passengers will also have the choice of taking an Air-India flight from Mumbai to Hong Kong in the mornings on five days of the week, viz. Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Passengers travelling from Hong Kong to Mumbai will also have the option of travelling by an afternoon flight on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
11 Bangkok flights a week
Air India
will operate 11 flights a week to Bangkok from Mumbai, instead of six at present. Of these, five will be extended to Hong Kong and six flights will be operated to Bangkok from Mumbai via Delhi. Four of the Mumbai-Bangkok flights will proceed further to Shanghai and the other two to Tokyo, thus offering connectivity to Hong Kong, in addition to Shanghai and Tokyo, from Bangkok.
4 Seoul flights a week
Air-India is recommencing services to South Korea effective July 7, 2005 after a gap of almost six years. Four flights a week will be operated from Mumbai to Seoul via Delhi and Hong Kong with standardised timings on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Passengers travelling on these flights from Seoul will be able to, after spending the night in Mumbai, proceed to the West on Air-India's flights operating to UK/Europe/USA.
Traffic between India and South East Asia, particularly the leisure market, has been growing and is expected to continue to grow at around 9-10 per cent per annum. Air-India had, however, not been able to take full advantage of the growth due to capacity constraints in the past. It is hoped that with the introduction of the new flights, made possible following the induction of two Airbus 310 aircraft taken on dry lease during June-July 2005, Air-India will be able to enhance its market share significantly.
The new flights are, incidentally, a part of Air-India's sustained drive to enhance its market share by re-positioning itself as a premium airline.
BY OUR AVIATION CORRESPONDENT
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