Foreign carriers scaling up India ops as growth takes off

Mumbai: It’s not just the domestic air carriers that are riding the aviation boom. In the past few months a number of foreign carriers have either resumed or increased services to the Indian destinations. They are looking at adding new destinations and providing value added services to lure travellers in the one of the world’s largest markets.
“The growth of the Indian economy has resulted in the growth of the masses. India has a 300 million strong middle class who can afford outbound travel,” said Olan Bundhuratana, general manager- India, Thai Airways International.
Thai Airways is not the only one looking at the India story. Lufthansa, Air Asia and Air Arabia are some of the players which have either introduced new flights, increased frequencies or lined up value-adds.
Within India, Mumbai and Delhi seem to be the first priority to increase frequencies. Recently, Thai Airlines announced three flights between Mumbai and Bangkok, taking the total number of weekly flights to ten. It plans go double daily on this route by April with 14 weekly flights. Austrian Airlines, which had suspended Mumbai flights around a year-and-a-half back, has also resumed five flights on the Mumbai-Vienna route.
Some of these airlines are also looking at other Indian cities. Lufthansa is also keen on increasing its exposure here and along with Mumbai is looking to increase frequencies in Pune. Air Arabia is also seeking to ramp up operations.
01/12/10 Amritha Pillay/Daily News & Analysis

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Categories: Foreign Dec 2010, Indian Aviation- In General Dec 2010