Jet Airways (Mumbai International) has named Bengaluru International as a future hub, with two new international routes launching from the southern Indian city in the next two weeks.
Vice-president (commercial) Praveen Iyer confirmed that Bangalore was an increasing focus. “Given the rising importance of the city, we intend to make it our third domestic hub in the near future," he said.
The carrier launched its Bangalore - Singapore Changi route this week on a B737-800. The route is currently served by Tigerair (Singapore Changi) and Singapore Airlines (SQ, Singapore Changi), which offer daily redeye flights, and SilkAir (Singapore Changi) which operates a 5x weekly morning run. Jet Airways' Bangalore - Colombo International service will commence on January 5, 2017 also using a B737-800. Only SriLankan Airlines (UL, Colombo International) currently links Bangalore and Colombo.
Jet Airways serves around 39,000 passengers weekly out of Bangalore, with more than 93% of those flying domestically.
Bangalore’s airport is the third busiest in India in terms of passenger traffic, with almost 290,000 weekly passengers. Bangalore is an important centre of technology and has been dubbed “India’s Silicon Valley”. It is also the main aviation centre of the country; Boeing and Airbus both have research and development centres based in the city.
