Tag Archives: Bengaluru

Jet Airways will add 42 weekly flights connecting three new city pairs as part of strengthening its domestic network to meet growing demand between metros and emerging cities. Introduction of additional frequencies and wide-body deployments between key metros will also boost capacity on existing sectors this summer as the airline bolsters its already extensive network to meet an expected surge in demand during the holiday season. The carrier will commence operations between Nagpur and New Delhi, Lucknow and Kolkata, and Kozhikode and Bengaluru as part of its broader strategy of connecting India’s emerging tier II cities with India’s metros via direct flights. It will also introduce additional frequencies on the highly traveled Delhi – Amritsar and Mumbai – Kolkata sectors and boost capacity on the New Delhi – Bengaluru and New Delhi – Bhopal routes with the introduction of the wide-body Airbus A330 and Boeing 737 services, respectively. The changes are a part of Jet Airways’ summer schedule which will see the airline operate upto 650 flights per day connecting 65 destinations in India and abroad. Jayaraj Shanmugam, Chief Commercial Officer, Jet Airways, said, “Our summer schedule has been meticulously planned to meet the expected surge in demand over the holidays. New flights, additional frequencies, greater capacity including the introduction of wide-body services across more sectors are meant to offer our discerning guests greater choice, convenience, connectivity and added comfort.”

Jet Airways has announced the launch of two new flights directly connecting Chennai with Paris and Bengaluru with Amsterdam. The launch of these new routes will enable guests to travel to destinations in Europe and North America with its codeshare partners Air France, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Delta Air Lines. Jet Airways will operate a daily service between Bengaluru-Amsterdam, while the flight between Chennai-Paris will be operated five days a week. These new flights will complement the airline’s existing direct operations from Delhi & Mumbai to Amsterdam and onwards to Toronto as well as direct flights from Mumbai to Paris. Flights are available for sale from 20th April 2017. Commencing October 29, 2017, Jet Airways 9W 236 will depart from Bengaluru at 02:25 hrs (LT) and arrive at Amsterdam at 08:35 hrs (LT). On the return leg, Jet Airways 9W 235 will depart from Amsterdam at 10:50 hrs (LT) and arrive at Bengaluru at 00:40 hrs (LT). These flights will be operated in conjunction with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Delta Air Lines, with each airline placing their respective codes on the service. On the same day, Jet Airways 9W 128 will depart from Chennai at 01:45 hrs (LT) and will arrive into Paris at 08:10 hrs (LT). Departing from Paris at 10:10 hrs (LT), Jet Airways 9W 127 will return to Chennai at 00:15 hrs (LT). Both Air France and Delta Air Lines will be codeshare partners on these flights. Gaurang Shetty, Whole time Director, Jet Airways, said, “Providing guests with a greater choice of travel destinations and connectivity options is an important differentiating factor which sets us apart from our competition. Demand for enhanced connectivity to global …

Reinforcing its commitment to the south India market, IndiGo has announced Mangalore as its new destination. Effective May 1, 2017, IndiGo will operate daily non-stop flights from Mangalore to Bengaluru and Mumbai at fares starting Rs 1,499. Aditya Ghosh, President and Whole Time Director, IndiGo said, “Mangalore, an important seaport and a major commercial centre in Karnataka with the state’s second busiest airport, is fast gaining prominence as a business hub and a tourist gateway. We have been getting requests to connect the city of Mangalore for years. I am now delighted to announce the launch of IndiGo flights from Mangalore. With the inaugural flights attractively priced at Rs. 1499 onwards, we are hopeful that these routes will prove to be immensely popular amongst our flyers.” He further added, “Adding new flights and frequencies on our network is aligned with our commitment to expand affordable air travel in India. The new flights not only strengthen domestic network but also help us better serve increased demand in growing markets.”

Air Asia India will now be flying to Kolkata and Ranchi. The airline added these two new destinations and will be making Kolkata its third hub after Bengaluru and Delhi. With the new additions, Air Asia India will now be flying to a total of 15 destinations in the country. The airline acquired its 9th A320 aircraft this year, after which it launched these connections.

Scoot and Tigerair have announced the #YaadeinBanao campaign for travellers across their India network with attractive all-in one way fares starting from as low as Rs. 5,099. The offer period begins from February 20, 2017, and lasts until March 02, 2017. The applicable travel period for this offer is from March 01, 2017 to October 28, 2017. Passengers from all 8 destinations from India namely Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Jaipur, Amritsar, Lucknow, Tiruchirappalli (Trichy) can enjoy exclusive fares on Scoot and Tigerair’s network such as Singapore, Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Gold Coast, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Bali, Manila, Cebu and many more. Speaking on the roll-out of this offer, Leslie Thng, Chief Commercial Officer for Scoot and Tigerair said, “Summer is the most preferred holiday period for Indians to plan their annual family getaways. It is an apt opportunity to bond with loved ones and make memories that will last for a life time. We are confident that this specifically curated value for money offering will provide Indian families enough time to plan comfortably by choosing from our wide network of international destinations.” Tickets can be booked through Scoot and Tigerair’s official websites – www.tigerair.com and www.flyscoot.com or from Scoot and Tigerair’s mobile app for supported devices. Scoot and Tigerair together operate a total of 50 weekly flights to Singapore from eight Indian destinations – Amritsar, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Lucknow and Tiruchirappalli.

Having grown its annual roadshow from five cities to six now, Mumbai-based U&I Holidays is keen on adding Tier-II cities from next year. Shyam Upadhyay, Director, U&I Holidays, says, “This time, we wanted to include a new city so we added Kolkata, which to our surprise was a hit. Most of the participants found good potential there. Every city got more than 100 attendees but Kolkata was at 150 which is really good for a city like that.” The six cities were Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Delhi, Ahmedabad, and Mumbai. The roadshow had 32 participants from Bali of which 31 were hotels plus one caterer. Speaking about Kolkata, Ashish Indulkar, Director, U&I Holidays, adds, “Although we have been doing some activities in Kolkata, we never ventured full-fledge into the market. We were very happy with the turnout. It is a very interesting market because there are whispers that AirAsia India is planning to launch a direct Kolkata-Bali flight via Kuala Lumpur.” Upadhyay adds that next year’s roadshow will continue to travel to six cities but a new set of cities which will include a Tier-II city like Nagpur, Jaipur or Pune. U&I Holidays sent 15,000 Indian pax to Bali last year. “In 2015, it was 12,000, and this year we are expecting bigger numbers. We are focusing more on MICE as well,” Indulkar adds. U&I has its own office in Bali and they are also a DMC for Maldives. Last year, U&I Holidays entered the wellness segment by opening Ashoka Spa outlet in Mumbai. It opened another one in Bali in December 2016. It will now focus on hotel spas in Mumbai and parts of Maharashtra and are already in talks …

Etihad Airways has announced a third daily flight on the Abu Dhabi – Bengaluru route, effective March 26, 2017. The triple daily schedule will provide greater choice to local passengers travelling between the two cities, and improved connectivity to destinations across the GCC, North America and Europe via the airline’s Abu Dhabi hub.The capacity increase underscores the airline’s commitment to offer guests more travel options between Abu Dhabi and key destinations across its network. With a new daily late night departure from Abu Dhabi, and early morning service from Bengaluru operated with a two-class Airbus 321, the schedule provides additional online connectivity to and from a number of destinations, including Doha, Jeddah, London, Dublin, New York and Dallas. Peter Baumgartner, Etihad Airways Chief Executive Officer, said: “Our expanded services between Abu Dhabi and Bengaluru are in line with Etihad Airways’ strategy to offer greater travel options when aircraft availability and market conditions permit. “The extra flights to Bengaluru will cater to the strong demand between both cities, and bring closer our global network to and from Bengaluru over our Abu Dhabi hub.” Etihad Airways launched flights to Bengaluru, capital of the southern Indian state of Karnataka, in January 2011 with four services a week, rising to daily two months later. It has steadily grown capacity with additional frequencies and aircraft upgrades to its current double daily operation. More than 700,000 guests have been flown on the route over the past six years. Partner carrier Jet Airways will codeshare on Etihad Airways’ enhanced Bengaluru services, and also offer connectivity from Bengaluru to destinations across India.

South African Tourism sets the pace for continued double digit growth in the coming year with its annual roadshow slated for this month. The roadshow will be held in Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai where suppliers from South Africa will network with Indian travel agents. Now in its 14th edition, the roadshow will start with Chennai on 30 January, and then go on to Bengaluru on 31 January, Delhi on 1 February and conclude in Mumbai on 3 February, 2017. About 10 per cent of the delegation will be first-timers and will include hotel chains, airlines, products, attractions, DMCs and local tourism offices. Indian agents will be able to meet representatives from boutique hotel chain Lion Roars Hotels & Lodges, adventure-focused attraction Tenikwa Wildlife, care-rental Multilayer Trade Corporation and DMC Africa Incoming. Domestic airline Safair has also signed up. Additionally, Air Seychelles (which many Indians use to fly to South Africa via Mahe) that is said to be starting a flight to Durban starting March will also be present. Hanneli Slabber, Country Manager, South African Tourism India, said, “Up until the third quarter of 2016, we noted that arrivals had grown by 26.6 per cent in comparison to 2015 and we hope to have closed the year at 27 per cent growth. By September 2016, our arrivals had hit 73,902. This makes India South Africa’s eighth-largest long-haul tourism source market.” The tourism board is expecting between 600-1,000 travel agents to attend the roadshow.

Japan will open 13 new visa application centers in India. The centers will be opened at Gurgaon, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Goa, Bengaluru, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai, Puducherry and Hyderabad. This was informed by Ryoichi Matsuyama, President, Japan National Tourist Office at the opening ceremony of the 2017 the year of Japan-India Friendly Exchanges and the Announcement of Japan-India Collaboration Film Project. “Last year Japan saw 120,000 Indian arrivals whereas 230,000 Japanese visited India. Though the number of Indians visiting Japan is steadily increasing, the current figure is yet modest despite the vast size and scale of India and more so given the long-standing relationship between the two countries,” said Matsuyama. The Japan-India Collaboration Film Project was also announced. The event was attended by Kenko Sone, Minister, Economic and Development, Embassy of Japan; Suresh Prabhu, Railway Minister, Government of India, Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Ayog, Government of India, Kenchi Takano, Executive Director- Preparation Office for New Delhi, JNTO amongst others. His Excellency Kenji Hiramatsu, Ambassador of Japan to India added that there will be a number of cultural and tourism related events are planned to be held all around India in 2017.

Jet Airways has announced the launch of a daily direct flight from Bengaluru to Colombo with effect from January 05, 2017. With this new connection, Bengaluru will be the second Indian city after Mumbai to be linked to Colombo and Jet Airways’ third daily service to the Sri Lankan capital. Jet Airways flight 9W 278 will depart Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport at 0040 hrs and arrive in Colombo at 0210 hrs (Local Time). The flight 9W 277 will leave Colombo at 0310 hrs (LT) to arrive in Bengaluru at 0435 hrs (LT). Jet will offer added connection for travelers between South Indian cities and Colombo via Bengaluru. Jayaraj Shanmugam, Chief Commercial Officer, Jet Airways, said “Jet Airways is delighted to launch a direct service between Bengaluru and Colombo. With increasing economic activity between India and Sri Lanka, Jet Airways realized the gap in the connectivity and plugged it with this direct connection. Guests between these two destinations will be offered the best in-flight product and service excellence.”