Indian low-cost carriers are launching new routes that increase connections between India and other key cities in Asia.
SpiceJet has confirmed that it plans to start four-times weekly flights between Delhi and the southern Chinese industrial city of Guangzhou from February 8. Business Traveller previously reported this as part of a story on the airline's international expansion here.
Flight SG081 will leave Delhi at 1720 on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays to land in Guangzhou at 0035 the next morning. The return leg SG082 departs at 0155 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays to arrive back in India at 0525 the same morning.
The only other service between the two cities is operated by China Southern, which launched a 747 flight on the route in October 2007. Earlier this year, it increased the service from daily to ten times weekly.
Meanwhile, Indigo is planning to start a daily Kolkata to Bangkok service later this month, according to industry website airlineroute.net. Indigo already flies to Bangkok from Mumbai and Delhi.
Flight 6E077 will leave Kolkata at 2140 and land in the Thai capital at 0155 the next morning, with the return leg departing at 0255 and arriving back in India at 0400. The service is operated using an A320 aircraft.
Kolkata is rapidly developing as a business city. It has developed several “new cities” and IT parks which are drawing in investment from domestic and international corporations. It is becoming one of India’s major hubs for IT with companies such as HCL Infosystems and HSBC Global Resourcing locating there. Alongside this, it also has growing steel, heavy engineering, pharmaceutical and electronics manufacturing industries.
Last month, Dragonair began four-times weekly flights between Kolkata and Hong Kong in response to a growing demand for business travel to the city. The airline has said it expects to increase the flight to daily next year.
For more information, visit www.goindigo.in and www.spicejet.com
Nicholas Olczak
