Private sector carrier Jet Airways will launch its direct daily flights from Bengaluru to Singapore starting from tomorrow and is also planning to make Bengaluru its third domestic hub in the near future.
The full service airline, which currently flies to 45 domestic destinations and 20 international destinations from the IT capital of the country, will launch its flight services to Colombo from Bengaluru from January 5, 2017.
"The population to travelers' ratio in Bengaluru is higher than other metro cities, indicating its business potential. With the launch of Bengaluru- Singapore flight, we will further expand the city's connectivity with ASEAN region," Vice-president (commercial) of Jet Airways, Praveen Iyer told reporters here.
The private carrier with around 12 percent market share is also planning to make the southern city its third domestic hub in the near future.
"The city with its IT and biotechnology prowess is increasingly gaining prominence as a global investment destination, resulting in significant growth in aviation traffic. Given the rising importance of the city, we intend to make it our third domestic hub in the near future," Iyer said. He, however, declined to give any timeline.
Meanwhile, the company will also launch its Bengaluru- Colombo flight starting from January 5, 2017 in its bid to provide higher connectivity to Australia and other south east Asian nations.
Notably, South India contributes around 30 percent of company's revenue and has seen a rising graph in recent years.
When asked about competition in these new routes, Iyer said that despite competition, potential for growth was high and the company hoped to tap the rising flyers' interest in this route.
India's second biggest airline by market share posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 85 crore in the July-September quarter of this fiscal, up 2.5 percent over the same period of last fiscal. The airline's consolidated revenue increased by 3 percent to Rs 5,864.5 crore during this period.
