BENGALURU: Indian runways are set to see more of Singapore Airlines with the company looking at strengthening its presence in the Indian market. While in the last season the airlines operated 95 weekly services, it has gone up to 104 this winter. “We have been increasing our footprint in India. From economy to premium travel, we see big potential. We are trying to improve our presence by introducing newer aircraft in the market,” said David Lim, Singapore Airlines General Manager, (India). The airlines is also marking its seventieth year of inception in 2017.
In India, SIA plans to cover both premium and economy class travel among its brands SilkAir, Scoot and TigerAir. While there is a growing market for premium air travel, owing to cash strapped global economies, the economy class travel is growing at a faster pace, Lim said. As of now, SilkAir has its services in Vizag and Coimbatore and if there is a demand from other tier II cities, they would cater to it, Lim said.
Also, with TigerAir branding folding into Scoot by the end of next year, the airlines was looking at a better commercial synergy. At present, Scoot is present in Amritsar, Chennai and Jaipur. Among SIA, SilkAir, Scoot and Tiger Air, the airlines flies from 15 cities in India.
The airlines has further announced major expansion plans in the US, Lim added. SIA has also launched Singapore- San-Francisco non-stop daily service. “This means that for Indian customers, unlike earlier, now there will be only one stop to fly to the US.”
SIA has also placed order for 67 Airbus A 350, few of which would be in service from 2018. “This will allow us to fly nonstop from Singapore to any US cities making it attractive to Indian customers flying to America,” he said. The SIA fleet as of now is at 105. As many as 5 A 380 aircraft would be added in the coming year.