Singapore Airlines to double flights in three metros

Kolkata, Feb 07 (UNI) Targeting a premium positioning in India, Singapore Airlines plans to double its flights from Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore in the next two years and operate daily from Kolkata in near future.

"At present we are operating single flight a day to Delhi and Chennai and six times weekly to Bangalore. But with the expansion of airports we are planning to introduce two flights a day to these places by 2009 to cater to the growing market. In Chennai we will be able to do it by the latter half of this calender year," Singapore Airlines General Manager, India, C W Foo today said.

While announcing availability of e-ticketing services in India, Mr.Foo said the airline had also a proposal to increase the number of flights from Kolkata to seven days a week from the present four days a week. However, this would be done in a phased manner as and when convenient.

Operating from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Banglore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Amritsar, Singapore Airlines currently operates 48 flights a week from India where it has a 70 to 80 per cent passenger load factor (PLF) at present.

Mr.Foo said while talks between the Governments of India and Singapore were going on for more traffic rights, Singapore Airlines had initiated a process to identify new routes in the country out of the 18 points the Civil Aviation Ministry had offered to the ASEAN region.

"We are not in a position to declare any specific destination, but we are definitely looking at the emerging metros in India. We continue to study new destinations and are open to connecting newer cities in India as a part of our network as well," he said.

The e-ticketing facility Mr.Foo announced for the country will be availabe across all the Airline's flights in India except in Mumbai by February 16.

This service would enable customers to purchase e-tickets for travel on Singapore Airlines flights departing from any of its eight gateways in the country.

The Airline has also started encourgaing internet check-in facility for the convenience of its customers at all the stations to ease the time consuming checking-in process at the airports.

"With e-ticketing service, more of our customers will enjoy the benefits of paperless travel. They no longer need to pick up paper tickets, nor worry about misplacing them. And with e-check-in facilities, they can enjoy faster check-ins at the airport," Mr.Foo said.

UNI