IT city will now have direct flight to Silicon Valley

IT city will now have direct flight to Silicon Valley
Tuesday August 5 2008 02:48 IST

Hemanth C S |ENS

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BANGALORE: The IT hub of India, for long deprived of a non-stop international flight service to destinations in the US and other countries, will finally see such direct international flights. A number of international carriers are queuing up to take wings from Bangalore.

Following the commissioning of the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA), international carriers like Air Mauritius, Tiger Airways, Oman Air and Dragon Air have started commercial operations from Bangalore; these are in addition to flights operated already by airlines like Lufthansa, British Airways and Air France.

With international facilities in the offing, airlines like Emirates, Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines and Malaysian Airways have also asked for increased weekly frequency from the new airport. This will enhance the city’s connectivity to the Far East and Europe.

This apart, a direct flight service from Bangalore to the US is also in the offing with Air India and Kingfisher launching non-stop Bangalore-San Francisco services later this year.

While Air India is yet to announce the launch date of its operations, Kingfisher will start operations from September onwards. Kingfisher flights which will be pressed on this route will have a two-class configuration, one high-end cabin and a business class cabin.

Air India, which has placed orders for 10 Boeing 777-200 LR long range aircrafts will be operating one of the aircrafts on the Bangalore- SanFrancisco route.

The Boeing 777 LR which will bear Karnataka’s name on its tail, also promises international standards with a single cabin configuration carrying 300-odd passengers, said V Chandrasekar Sr. Manager, Corporate Communications, Air India Bangalore.

The non-stop direct flight service by the two airlines to the US is the first connecting the two cities and is expected to enhance business opportunities. At present, commuters have to board a flight from either Mumbai or New Delhi to the US.

However, passengers have the optiong of availing the Air India seamless connectivity service. Air India, which operates non-stop flights between Mumbai-New York and New Delhi-New York, allows passengers to board a flight from Bangalore to Mumbai or Delhi and then board a flight to New York. Through this service they can get their boarding cards and their baggage collection can be processed in Bangalore itself.