Indian launches flight to Male from B'lore

Bangalore, Nov 2: Extending its horizon further, national carrier Indian today launched a direct non-stop A320 service to Male from here.

The five flights a week schedule was aimed at catering to the need of growing health tourism demand from Male besides help ethnic and touris population, Indian Chairman and Managing Director Viswapati Trivedi said at the launch function at Bangalore Airport.

The flight was flagged off by Union Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed and Karnataka Minister for health and Family Welfare R shoka.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Ahamed said that the flight would further enhance the long standing cooperaton between India and Maldives. India enjoyed extensive relationship with Maldives which had been a staunch supporter of India at the United Nation.

He said India had recently signed a MoU with Maldives for setting up of a faculty for Hospitality and Tourism in Maldives.

The flights would operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Mr Trivedi said that the flight had been timed in such a way that it provided connectivity to varioius metros of the country. The flight would depart at 1030 hrs and reach Male at noon (local time). The return flight would leave Male at 1250 hrs and reach Bangalore at 1520 hrs.

Indian was operating a daily 320 flight to Male from Tiruvananthapuram. As an introductory offer Indian had fixed the fare at Rs 10,000 for a return journey.

Mr Ahmed, lauding Indian for the service, wanted Indian to operate flights between Kozhikode and Bangalore stating that people of Southern Kerala have been demanding such a connection. He also wanted the airline to have flights to jeddah and riyadh from Kozhikode to benefit from resident Keralites, especially working class in these destinations. He said the fare to Gulf region of Indian was unfair and wanted a re-look into it.

UNI