Bangalore to see foreign airline rush

Bangalore to see foreign airline rush
The Times of India

BANGALORE: For booming Bangaloreans, here is zooming news. More foreign airlines will land in the city soon. North West Airlines of US, Air France and British Airways will launch their services here in the winter schedule.

Over 15 flights a week are being added and at least another 14 flights are expected to be added to the list of 50 flights from the city.

North West Airlines will commence daily flights into Bangalore from/to Seattle on October 31 offering direct connections via Amsterdam. It is operating in India in joint venture with the Dutch KLM Airlines. Connections to other parts of the US will be provided from Seattle, airport sources told The Times of India. The airline will operate with Airbus A-330 aircraft.

As per the schedule plan filed with the Airports Authority of India, Air France is commencing its services between Paris and Bangalore from November 1. It will operate Airbus A-330 aircraft for its five-days-a-week flights.

Currently, North West Airlines and Air France operate daily flights into Mumbai and Delhi. British Airways, which has finally got permission to fly between London-Bangalore after a long battle with the Indian government, plans to operate three flights a week.

Virgin Atlantic has also been eyeing Bangalore for sometime now and when its chairman Richard Branson was recently in Mumbai, he made public intentions to commence services from Bangalore from May 5. But so far, Virgin Atlantic has not got permission to fly into Bangalore, sources said.

SriLankan Airlines, which operates daily flights between Bangalore-Colombo, is already serving as a connection to London and other European and West Asian nations. Thai Airways which launched its flights recently, operates five flights a week to Bangkok, offering connections to the West Coast of the United States.

How will HAL airport meet this new demand? AAI sources said plans are being worked out for this. Among the first things would be to shift check-in counters to the ground floor from the first floor. This will create more space at the HAL airport.