Three new flights to connect Bangalore directly to Europe

Three new flights to connect Bangalore directly to Europe

The Hindu

International airlines will start flights from October 30

Bangalore: British Airways, Air France and North West-KLM Alliance will start direct flights from Bangalore to London, Paris and Amsterdam from the midnight of October 30, meeting a long-standing demand of air travellers from the Garden City and underlining Bangalore's growing stature as a global destination driven by the IT boom.

British Airways and Air France will fly directly to London and Paris five days a week while North West-KLM will operate a daily flight to Amsterdam.

The new services that are being launched will take the total number of international services operated out of Bangalore airport from 9 to 12. Currently, only Lufthansa operates a direct flight to Europe, connecting Bangalore with Frankfurt.

"The new services will make air travel that much more easy for travellers from Bangalore. They have choices now instead of travelling to European destinations with stopovers in other countries," according to A. Kulshreshtha, Assistant General Manager, in charge of Air Traffic Control at Bangalore airport operated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

"The direct flight to London is a real step change in travel and travellers and will sustain greater trade and investments, a large interchange of students and study and a greater access for us all to the benefits of the global economy," says Michael Arthur, British High Commissioner to India.

Manpower crunch

The AAI is making all efforts to facilitate the launch of the new services despite facing an acute manpower crunch as well as logistical difficulties at the airport.

"The expansion of the international terminal will be completed by February next year. About 69 more people at the level of inspectors and below are expected to join by the time the expansion work is over.

Besides, five more airport managers (apart from the four already) are expected to join by February," Mr. Kulshreshtha said.

The AAI has also decided to shift the check-in area for international travellers from the first floor to the ground floor to accommodate more passengers waiting to catch their flights. "Once this is done, the capacity of the security hold area will increase from 300 to 600," he said adding that the first floor would henceforth be devoted to immigration check, customs and security check-ins.

After the expansion of the international terminal, the airport would be able to handle two flights at a time instead of one at the moment.