The Hindu Business Line : Singapore-Ahmedabad flights from July 28

THE long-awaited clearance for commencing the Singapore-Ahmedabad flight has come through with Singapore Airlines (SIA) on Wednesday announcing that the thrice-weekly, four-and-a-half hour flights would commence on July 28.

With the necessary approvals pending from the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Director General of Civil Aviation, SIA becomes the first foreign airlines to operate from Ahmedabad.

Mr B.K. Ong, General Manager and head of SIA's India operations, said Gujarat was important for the group considering the state's similarity with the ASEAN countries on various economic indicators. The SIA would be looking at playing the role of a facilitator to bring together the business communities of Gujarat and the ASEAN countries, he said.

"The SIA was enamoured of Gujarat considering its economic growth rate of 8.3 per cent as also other key factors such as the state accounting for 6 per cent of the country's GDP, 13 per cent industrial output and 21 per cent exports.

"We would be looking to business travellers as well as those from the leisure segment and are planning to fly in tour operators from various parts of the world to have a look at Gujarat and nearby Rajasthan. Though low-cost carriers were likely to put up a challenge on the tariff front, SIA would continue to be a premium airline," Mr Ong said.

On the flip side, some of the tour operators are already offering attractive packages such as `three-days and two nights for Rs 19,000. The SIA is also offering discounted tariffs for the first one month for outbound tourists to Singapore and nearby countries and even up to Australia. The other segment SIA is actively pursuing is NRIs from Gujarat who have their bases in the US and UK for detours through Singapore.

According to Mr Kuah B.K, General Manager, Singapore Airlines Cargo, a subsidiary company of SIA, the company was also looking at the prospect of increased cargo movement from Ahmedabad that was otherwise routed through Mumbai. These included temperature controlled items such as pharmaceuticals, dyes and chemicals which would fit in with the company's `cool rider' segment and valuables such as gems and diamonds that would blend with its `secure rider' scheme.

Currently, Ahmedabad airport ranks seventh in the country with some two lakh international passengers moving in and out of the city last year.

However, this may only be a fraction of the total Gujarati international travellers as a good percentage of this category travel via Mumbai. And it is precisely this segment that the SIA is likely to woo with discounted packages for the individual as well as group tourists.

However, the real pull would be the business and trading houses of Gujarat as they may now consider holding conventions and seminars in Singapore.